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Form and function
By Yuval Saar

As a child, Yaacov Kaufman wanted his parents to buy him a violin, though he never thought he'd have to learn how to play it. "As 'punishment' they sent me to violin lessons," he says with a smile. "That's not what interested me. I wanted it as an object, but I only realized that later. The yearning for something aesthetic was what drove me, not a desire to play music."

This yearning for beauty has been a recurrent motif for Kaufman, one of Israel's most established industrial designers. His work, which repeatedly crosses the fine line between design and art, is often likened to a philosophical reflection on the design process. "Running in Circles," his solo exhibition opening this Friday at his Jaffa studio, is an example of such a reflection: it is comprised of several hundred rings of various sizes, mostly made of metal, hanging on a wall without any visible functional aspect.
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Kaufman doesn't have a problem blurring the line between art and design, but ultimately defines himself as a designer. "Any established medium that has a long history deals with itself. You can see that in art, or in drama, or in other fields. I see what I do as an inward look at my field. Design is a broad field - and even if the end product isn't useful, that doesn't mean it doesn't belong in my sphere [of work]. Because design is a comparatively young discipline, I see such endeavors as a sign of maturation."

What drives you?

"It's like compulsive gambling or being addicted to coffee. My work is also compulsive. I get up in the morning and think, 'I'll make another ring.' It's the kind of thing where you don't need anyone else to tell you to do it, or how to do it."

Who is the exhibition meant for?

"Everyone will understand it differently. When I say I'm carrying out a study of rings, a metalworker may think of the hoops that hold barrels together, a jeweler might think about jewelry. The concept of a ring and its shape are broad enough. There are all kinds of things one can connect to. But it's important to mention that this was not done 'for' anyone. I did it for myself, it was important to me. It's a process that began half a year ago, and there are over 200 rings."

That's an average of a ring a day.

"On average. It varies. One has all kinds of commitments - I've got to see my accountant, go to the doctor, the dentist, so I have to work between these things."

The study Kaufman is carrying out in his new show is a direct continuation of his previous exhibitions. Last February, at The New Gallery in Jaffa, he exhibited metal lamps in a variety of shapes: bent aluminum shades, lighting fixtures that were both sculptural and human. Four years ago, he displayed dozens of aluminum kitchenware items he'd cut up and reassembled.

In such pieces, unlike his mass-produced industrial designs, Kaufman probes the structure of objects. "I studied both art and design... I have worked since the age of 15, as a metalworker, and [mastered] the material. Naturally, much of my work is made of metal, because that's the material I could get my hands on. When I was an art student, others used to cast their sculptures into molds... These are two different morphological concepts. I do not like casting."

There are not many designers who do these things, study for the sake of study and not for an object.

"Each occupation has its ethos. Whoever goes to study art is ready to starve for many years, knowing what he's aiming for; you can see the kind of effort that goes into the work itself. Designers usually aren't like that, and I say that in sorrow. If we look at the students, and I know hundreds of graduates, they very quickly become bourgeoisie, get their diplomas and join daddy's firm to sell stuff and make money. There is something practical about design, and that's a pity, because we're talking about talented people. Apparently, those who study design have their feet on the ground, they're people who want to start families, to take out mortgages."

Kaufman was born in the Soviet Union in 1945 and came to Israel with his family from Poland when he was 12. He began as a student of sculpture at the Bat Yam Institute of Art, and only later took up industrial design at the Technion's Institute of External Studies in Tel Aviv. From the outset, he began showing works in solo and group exhibitions around the world, winning a slew of prizes and grants, and taking out quite a number of patents. His creative process is not fixed, he says. "Sometimes it begins with a mechanical function... sometimes it arises from... wondering what there is, what there isn't, and so on. There are phenomena, there are trends, but mostly it springs from something that's grown inside me."

How important is functionality?

"If I design a lamp to be sold to countless customers, it will obviously be different from a single, unique lamp. But in both cases, when you hit the switch, the light must go on."

Do you define yourself as an Israeli designer? Is there such a thing as Israeli design?

"I don't know. Is the Campana brothers' work Brazilian design? I met someone who told me he was in Korea and suddenly discovered that the Koreans were just like the Israelis. Why? Because they're a little superficial, they're not really 'Far Eastern' - neither here nor there..."

In 1975, Kaufman began teaching design at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, and today serves as a senior lecturer there. Contrary to frequent complaints about the deterioration of Israeli students, Kaufman believes they're actually getting better. "A 20-year-old today isn't like his counterpart 30 years ago. Their capacity to absorb large amounts of material is simply incredible. This occupation has also changed. In the past, a course had a beginning and an end, but today it's layered with tons of elements."

So how do you cope with such a situation?

"There's no parameter that determines what a designer has to know. I see the students as heralds of the future and try to give them the tools [they will need] in a constantly changing market. But who decides what the market is? Today there are many branches within industrial design, that's the reality."

Why are so many designs needed, so many products?

"It's the result of there being so many different groupings in the world, continuously splitting into sub-groupings. The multiplicity isn't an outcome of whims, but because there are folks who need and use the stuff. No one asks a painter why he makes more paintings..."

But there is a difference. A painting is unique, not reproduced.

"Nothing is reproduced if it isn't needed. If a chair isn't needed, then it isn't reproduced."

What is 'needed'? Aren't there enough chairs?

"Who are you to tell me what chair to buy? What do you mean 'not needed'? That is a very dictatorial attitude. I will decide for myself whether to go to the flea market or to Ikea."

Don't you have a responsibility as an educator?

"I am not an educator."

What are you?

"I teach certain subjects in this world."

But don't you feel some responsibility for the future of your students?

"My responsibility is to show them how to do certain things that a student must learn. They're adults. I am not going to tell them what to do. I have my beliefs. I think there are so many societies and cultures and ways of life... and everyone wants to be distinct. What we choose says something about who we are, our identity. It's important to talk about and discuss it, but each member of the profession must project it for himself, according to his own criteria, with the emphasis on his own [identity]."
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