Women’s Stories – Tal Zur

The beginning of the year was an opportunity to sit down for a talk with the two founders of Iota, about the past and the future. Last week we shared a conversation with Shula and now we are continuing the conversation with Tal, co-founder and CEO of iota.

Tal is our beating heart, she dreams big and achieves big, pushes us forward, creates collaborations that always open new perspectives. She is an all-powerful woman, mother of three, CEO, senior design professor, climber and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We are 8 women in the team, a family of choice, or a family exquisitely curated by Tal. Thank you Tal for the wonderful place you created for the world and for us, thank you for a place that has become a home, for every day you make us want to ask more questions and find more ways of looking at it and understand that everything is possible if we just want to.

Photo by: Angels Egura

Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Tal Zur, I am married to Guy and mother to Danו, Yona and Shira. Senior lecturer for industrial design at HIT and the partner and CEO of iota.

I graduated in industrial design 15 years ago, I worked in a large and successful fashion company and I felt that it was not the right place for me. I realized that I love my job, but I wanted to design and make an impact. Despite all the beautiful things that surrounded me and the options that were on the table at the time, I decided to leave and go on a two-month trek in Spain (Camino de Santiago). Before the trip, I met with Shula Mozes, our co-founder and investor. At the meeting we talked about the vision of establishing a design brand based on handwork that provides work to communities of women all over the world.

Tell us about your work? What field do you come from?
When I think about answers to the questions, I realize that I define myself first as a designer, and my thoughts oscillate between the personal and the public, between being a private person and being part of the design field and through it try to create meaning. Although I don’t design in my “DAY JOB”, I use design tools in everything I do.

If I have to say in a sentence what I do at work, it’s decision making. Sometimes I make wrong ones, but I understand that it is part of the deal.

Photo by: Roni Cnaani

What is your inspiration?
I once read a piece written by the designer Jonathan Hope, which talks about the jealous designer. When everyone talks about inspiration, his drive often stems from envy. He sees something beautiful that someone else has done and tells himself that he must do the same. From there the jealousy generally disappears, but the drive remains. I can relate to that 😊

What is the effect of this period in time on your inspiration and work?
In the last year, I too have fluctuated between hope and despair. Between the desire to pack everything and go and the willing desire to stay here, because frankly I really don’t want to be anywhere else.In the past year I feel that iota has represented much more than a design brand. Working with Turkish women and Syrian refugees symbolizes a world I want to dwell in. It shows that in the end, people or women, act differently and that it is possible to create a real and strong bond thanks to who we are, and politics can be a business for others.Many Iota projects abroad have been canceled or postponed, because it is not the right time, and I promise myself that the right time will come. I believe that work creates work, so we work as if nothing has changed and any moment the world will open again.

How does craft and handicraft meet all this?
Craft is made of so many things that I appreciate and love: history and memory are the base, along with skill, investment, commitment, development, fingerprint, soul, frustration, perseverance and sensitivity. I wish I could teach everyone to knit today. I think we all need some meditative work.

What does Craft mean to you and in general?
I follow the development of AI tools and on the other hand want to live in a world that is not only technological. Handiwork, skill, fingerprint, material, color, texture have meaning. This is true educationally, socially and humanly. I perceive the designer as an activist. Design needs to make technological development accessible, thus there is a great responsibility. The forecast for the future is that most workers will be replaced by robots, and this will happen even before we have time to formulate an answer to how to deal with it. I ask myself how I would feel if they asked me to design one of these robots.Just as food prepared for us with love tastes better than an instant dish heated in the microwave, it will also be more pleasant for us to have objects around us that someone invested in and prepared and that are not the product of laser beam cutting only.

Photo by: Nelo Hagen

Tell us a story about a dream that came true for you personally or at iota. How did you make this happen?
When I started Iota, I imagined how we would represent at the Salone in Milan and be part of this important event, and when it happened it was not far from what I imagined. In 2017, at the beginning of our journey, I traveled to London for all kinds of meetings with the aim of creating collaborations.

One of the meetings was with Tom Dixon, a well-known and important British designer. During the meeting he offered us to present with him at the Salone. He chose 6 brands to present under his umbrella and we were one of them.

We got a golden space at TEATRO MANZONI, Dorit traveled for less than 24 hours in Milan, and within a few days she redesigned the space especially for our needs. We hung 2 swings in it facing each other, which turned out to be a perfect “Instagram Moment”. The exhibition was visited by 250 journalists, 25,000 visitors and I went on stage and spoke about Iota. It was an excellent opportunity to meet designers, buyers and visitors from all over the world and an exposure we could not have dreamed of.

If you take me back 15 years, I would tell you that my dream is for an object of my design, to become part of the collection of my favorite museum: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (the V&A). Four years ago, the exhibition “Food bigger than the plate” opened exactly there. Part of my final studential project, dealing with food and serving utensils, was chosen to be part of the exhibition. We flew to London for the opening, and it was one of the most joyful days of my life.

Photo by: Ronen Mangan, Styling: Amit Farber

Recommendation for life \ exhibition \ album \ motto
My friends laugh at me that at any given moment I rediscover the most beautiful place in the world, the tastiest food in the world and the best book ever written.

I mainly recommend everyone to surround themselves with good travel companions. Find someone like Shula, who believed in me and was willing to go on this journey with me, and also gives me confidence and a brave friendship, lights our way and allows us both to fulfill our dreams together. Although this interview is a personal one with me, I can say everything I say about Iota thanks to being part of a team. A wonderful, smart, talented, sensitive and extraordinary team of partners for the journey, who work together every day, and take care of iota and no less for each other.Oh, and I also recommend coming to our studio, it is the most pleasant place you will visit.

What do you wish for the coming year?
May everyone return home safely.