Arabesque Jug

A second jug in our series of vessels, a tribute to ‘Lapid’ – a renowned Israeli ceramics brand. Lapid operated from the 1940s to 1990s and was a symbol of the Israeli ceramics industry. The arabesque decoration was designed by painter Miriam Tal, who worked at Lapid as part of the team of painters in the mid-1960s, led by with the Chief designer Elisabeth Cohen-Zilberschmidt. The arabesque became one of the brand’s iconic series. The name Arabesque was given by Dr. Berta Rosenthal, who founded the art department at Lapid Ceramics.

At this time, full of uncertainty and pain, it was comforting to be inspired by Lapid, to wander through the archives of the Israel National Library and delve into translating and fusing crafts – ceramics to knitting. We converted arabesque motifs to computerized pixels. Then painstakingly illustrated the pixels into a knitting software. Finally we went back to the needle and thread and created the white and blue textile jugs.  

The jugs are knitted from raw cotton and deep blue yarn, both selected from our founding collection of yarns, designed by iota in our very first steps, almost ten years ago. 

The jug is a historical object, evidence of origins, of handwork, of soil. Physical evidence of the beginning of human society and its need to exist and feed itself. Like other ancient objects, its use is accompanied by human gestures. What is its function? We are still familiar with it; the jug still has a place in the everyday life of the modern person. Its use has been preserved, opposed to many other ancient objects, whose use and the gestures that followed have been lost over time. 

 

The jug is symbolic of memory, heritage, and the importance of human gestures. To our ability as humans to create. The jug has an inner space tht requests to be filled, and precisely at this time it reminds us to fill our lungs full of air and our hearts full of everything that makes us thrive.