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The
art of Yemenite silver and goldsmith has run in the family's veins for eight generations
and Ben-Zion David (Benzi) has this skill in his genes. At the age of ten he began
helping his father in his workshop preparing and interweaving the silver threads.
In
Yemen
, a person who wanted
a piece of jewelry would give five silver coins to the silversmith. Three coins
were melted for the jewel itself and the two other coins were the jeweler’s fee.
After two days of preparing the silver into threads and small silver domes, the
jewelry was crafted in another day. “I am still using ancient methods
to make jewelry, maybe more advanced than my grandfather’s, but not very modern,”
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says Ben Zion. “Till this day, all the tools I work with have Yemenite names. Each
small jewelry piece, each individual thread has a name.”
Ben Zion does all the
designing himself. His more commercial designs combine modern fashion trends and
Yemenite traditional craftsmanship. Some pieces Ben Zion makes “for the soul” which
are not for sale. Pieces which he makes for collectors of Judaica, are heavy and
expensive and made completely by hand. For these pieces he prepares the threads
by hand, interweaving them to achieve a special and unique braided effect.
His commercial designs
combine casting and handwork. They are inspired by the traditional Yemenite design
of heavy bridal jewelry.
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Ben Zion did not always
design jewelry. After his army service he studied electrical engineering in theUnited
States for five years. Returning to
Israel
, he was supposed to
begin work as an electrical engineer an electronic firm. While waiting for the company’s
security clearance, which took seven months, in order to support himself, he began
to create his
Judaica designs
and sold them to collectors
in theUnited States. By the time the security clearance came through, he was already
immersed in his art.
Ben-Zion pieces are on
display at museums and galleries both in
Israel
and the
US
, along with pictures
and explanations, and he has won the “Accent Magazine” design competition for two
consecutive years.
It seems that Yemenite
jewelry has not only an interesting past, but also an exciting future.
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