"The Ball", Design Museum of Holon

I first blogged about the Design Museum in Holon back in 2011, when it was a little over a year old. I have been back to see other exhibitions there over the years and recently was lucky enough to catch their current exhibition "The Ball", which is dedicated to Israel's evening and bridal gowns fashion industry. It features some 120 ball gowns representing both historical and contemporary designs, and some 50 accessories created especially for the exhibition by Israel's top designers.

The exhibition is divided into four sections. We began our visit in the Lower Gallery of the museum where a historical timeline of garments, "Re-sewing the History of the Ball", featured reconstructions of historical pieces. Designed with historical accuracy by the costume historian and creator Moni Mednik, the all white cotton muslin garments demonstrated the changes in the design of ball gowns and evening wear as they evolved from the 18th century, through the world wars, the Great Depression and up to the 80s.

We moved on to "The Whipping Room and the Mad Hatter", a stunning installation which brought together the works of the hatter Maor Zabar and the pastry chef Alon Shabo. The exhibition was intended as a playful look at the desserts that added a sweet touch to the balls. On display were 23 towers consisting of about 6,500 macaroons, 122 wedding cakes, tiered cakes and personal desserts, hand-sculpted from 500 kilos of sugar, almond powder, as well as cement and Styrofoam! All the dessert sculptures on display were handmade over 1,000 hours.

Zabar's hats were all handmade and inspired by desserts such as a toffee apples, Black Forest gâteau and candyfloss. A fashion designer by training, Zabar used unconventional materials, extreme proportions and angles that challenge gravity in the design of the 15 hats exhibited. They combined humour with surrealism and were a delight to see!

Next we took a look at the section of the exhibition called "Heart of Glass: A Journey in the Footsteps of Cinderella's Slippers". As Cinderella learned, the "look" can't be complete without shoes. A collaboration with Formlabs, which specialises in 3D printing, this section took us on a tour of various cultural incarnations of the Cinderella shoe, from 9th century China to thoughts of futuristic Cinderellas. The process of creating each shoe included sculpture, printing that lasted about 12 hours, dipping the shoe in alcohol and sanding with a manual finish, which gave it the glass look.

The Margalit Gallery displayed the work "11:59PM" by Idit Barak, which brought together ball gowns familiar from fairy tales using 10,000 metres of fibre optics, below. The thousands of lights glimmering in the darkness formed the silhouette of an opulent ball gown.

Then we went upstairs, to the Upper Gallery of the Design Museum, where "The Modern Ball: Israeli Couture" was on display. This section of the exhibition offered a glimpse into Israel's evening-wear industry through bridal gowns and evening gowns made by leading designers in the country. The curator of the exhibition, Yaara Keydar, wanted to show that the ball is no longer limited to Europe. It was important for her to include the Israeli perspective on proms and balls as well.

Lihi Hod, Shlomi Anteby, Maya Naé, "If You Will It, It Is A Fairy Tale."

The 82 dresses on display show the scope of the industry in Israel, which is at international standards. Even though we are in the Middle East, you could clearly see European history through the dresses, through puffed sleeves, crinoline and corsets. Highlights included dresses designed by Alon Livne and worn by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry and a dress sewn from 15,000 old Israeli coins designed by Shai Shalom. Other striking designs included the Israeli musician Ninet Tayeb's wedding dress, designed by Victor Vivi Bellaish and Gadi Elimelech, colourful tulle dresses designed by Shahar Avnet, a digitally printed wedding dress designed by Lihi Hod, as well as a modest, ultra-Orthodox gown by Brurya Haritan.

The opening of the exhibition was postponed several times due to the pandemic. It finally opened in July but was definitely worth the wait! The design and colour of the displays were such a treat and I especially loved Maor Zabar's dessert hats.

"The Ball" is on display at the Design Museum Holon until December 11th.​​

* This post has been shared on Chic & Stylish Linkup, Curated by Jennifer, Jersey Girl, Texan Heart, Little Things Thursday, Top of the World Style linkup, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Our World Tuesday, Tuesday's Treasures, My Corner of the World and Sharon's Souvenirs.

From Within

I was recently lucky enough to see an extraordinary exhibition at the Jaffa Port, "From Within", by the artist Nirit Levav Packer. I was already familiar with Nirit's work through her Dog series, which I have seen in several high-end gift shops in the Tel Aviv area, but this was exhibition something extra special. Her life-size statues of pregnant women, made mainly of metals (motorcycle and car parts), as well as coat hangers, branches and more were at the centre of the exhibit. The Dog series "Unchained", and dresses made of various materials, were an extra treat, and showed me just how imaginative and talented Nirit Levav Packer really is.

Nirit Levav Packer was born in 1963. She graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York with a degree in fashion design, then proceeded to develop a career in fashion, specialising in wedding dresses.

Nirit acquired most of her early training as an artist at her father's theatre sets workshop. The workshop was often visited by renowned sculptors and painters and Nirit would spend her vacations helping her father. He taught her welding, metal cutting and most importantly of all, not to fear experimenting with various ideas and substances. This training was complemented by her mother, a crafts teacher and a hobbyist seamstress. 

After a number of years, Nirit realised that she was no longer fulfilled by being solely a fashion designer. Though there was a creative element to making wedding dresses, she was limited to a certain type of cloth and colour. Parallel to her other occupations, she started to explore other creative avenues and broaden her education by studying jewellery, pottery, ceramic sculpture and iron sculpting. After a random visit to a bike shop, where she asked for the shop's accumulated junk and received a box full of bicycle chains, she decided to focus on a single raw material - recycled bicycle chains, and on a single theme - dogs. The Dog series began, and the 20 or so figures in the "From Within" series followed.

The sculptures, composed of junk collected by the artist, illustrate her ability to humanise and instill delicacy and softness into hard, cold metal. In them she merges her full femininity (mother of 4, former designer of delicate, white wedding dresses) with the masculine power within her - metal work, welding and cutting, lifting heavy weights, rummaging through garbage containers and more.

"Curly", above, features a kneeling pregnant woman, with arms raised and placed on her head. This piece is made of motorcycle connecting rods but they give the impression of being skin-like. Other alluring figures in the main section of the exhibition include "Dotty", made of motorcycle ball bearings; "Jumpy", naturally out of car engine springs; and "Prayer" for which Nirit used motorcycle roller bearing cages. 

Of course the former clothes designer could not entirely neglect her former breadwinning line. In addition to the wonderful "From Within" series was a display of dresses you simply wanted to slip over your head, despite the fact that they were made from metals, cogs and bicycle chains. Eight dresses were on show, including one particularly attractive item made of light bulbs, above, and another put together from house keys.

The "Unchained" section of the exhibition, which is devoted to a motley collection of canine shapes, was delightful! There was a comical sculpture of an English bulldog made of watches and an oversized Afghan Hound made of bicycle chains. A miniature poodle waits eagerly for her treat. From Rottweilers to Dachshunds to cute little Yorkshire Terriers, the artist has managed to turn metal fragments into a wide variety of different breeds, and has captured the dogs' gentleness and sensitivity, despite the use of scrap metal. I was particularly fond of the Boxer, above, with his nodding head.

"From Within" was a charming exhibition, full of original works and brilliant ideas, and situated in the most amazing space at the Jaffa Port. I enjoyed it so much that I went back for a second look another day!

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