In the spirit of using every possible material available and avoiding waste, Israeli designer Zohar Yarom has found a creative and functional purpose for furniture fabric samples. She makes handbags out of them.
After receiving degrees in design from the Bezalel school in Jerusalem and Parson’s in New York, Zohar founded her own ZY design company in 2003 with the objective of creating environmentally and socially sensitive design pieces.
Her diverse line of products once included handbags, storage solutions, furniture (such as the saddle chair), light fixtures, and ceramics.
And she prides herself on finding an aesthetic solution to reusing materials in a way that is both stylish and conscious of the environment.
According to Zohar, “it is important for me to emphasise environmental and social sensitivity through the design and use of the product, with the possibility of being more stylish.”
She is currently working on reusing billboard materials (similar to Abu YoYo, which creates bags out of billboard waste in Tel Aviv) and is involved with an organization called “Shekulo Tov” – an organization that helps provide vocational work for people with emotional disabilities. (As of 2020 the link wasn’t working, so we removed it.)
Zohar’s bags can be found in organic clothing store, Cotton, as well as online and in select design stores.
Read more about on sustainable design:
More Mileage out of Your Purse
Enlightenment by Arik Levy: Our Future’s So Bright, Green and Beautiful
[…] Zohar Yarom is an entrepreneur with experience in sustainable development in business and at home. She specializes in agenda marketing emphasizing green and social products. She is a graduate of the Environmental Fellows Program at the “Heschel Center” for environmental learning and leadership, has a B. Des. in industrial design from the “Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.” […]