Tel Aviv Port's "Pop-Up Design Store" Features Many Upcycling Designers

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MDxk0qAnu0[/youtube]

Tel Aviv’s port (or “namal”) has in recent years become a trendy hot spot.  A little too trendy.  And often their trendiness does not go hand in hand with eco-friendliness.  But sometimes it does, like with their (too chic and elitist for some) farmer’s market and, this month, with their Pop-Up Design Store, Rafsoda.

Rafsoda means raft in Hebrew, and the store definitely allows playful Israeli design to temporarily float alongside the waves of the Mediterranean.

Open as of February 2nd, the temporary store will only remain open until February 22nd and the impermanence of the structure is reflected in the fact that reclaimed materials were used to create the store furnishings.  Instead of internal walls, the store makes use of old wooden doors, window frames, and shutters.  (Check out the construction of the store in the video clip above.)

Several of the 62 designers represented use upcycled or recycled materials, and many of them have been featured on Green Prophet (although there were some fresh surprises!).  These designers include:

KOZO Lamps: Handmade lamps made out of galvanized iron plumbing tools, with “the materials left as authentic as possible with a little rust at the joints and some marks from hand tools that were used in the assembly process.”  (Check out one of their lamps to the left.)  Now if only these were fitted to use CFLs…

Junktion Studio: A range of whimsical furnishings and home accessories, including a large soup pot-turned stool, vintage telephone-turned desk lamp, wooden shutters-turned chair, and foosball player-turned towel hanger.

Anat Safran/Infobags: Handbags and wallets made out of maps, and small zippered change purses that look like pita bread.

Erez Mulay: Wastepaper baskets made out of wasted paper (aka colorful, rolled up sheets of magazine paper).

Brigitte Cartier: Brigitte’s Baladi designs were represented by a beautiful hanging lamp made out of the bottoms of plastic bottles.

Kulla Industrial Design: Chairs, stools, and CD racks made out of reclaimed plastic wooden shutters.  (Check out their window shutter CD rack on the right.)

Rafsoda, at Hanger 20 of the Port of Tel Aviv, Sunday-Thursday 11am-8pm, Friday 9am-3pm, Saturday 6pm-10pm.  Go to the Port website for more information at www.namal.co.il.

Read about collective exhibitions of environmentally-friendly designers and artists::

ReUse: An Evening of Eco-Art in Central Jerusalem

Inspire Collective Brings 150 Artists Together for ReUse 3 Exhibition in Tel Aviv

White Trash, An Ecological Group Exhibition, Opens in Tel Aviv Next Week

Environmentally Focused Art at the “Farm Gallery” in Holon

Author: Karen Chernick

Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

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