"It's surprising to note that, in the 1960s, the establishment supported the product design field in Israel and attempted to promote it," says Hadas Kruk.

Kruk and Hagai Segev are curators of the first historical exhibit of its type to follow developments in the design of commercial products and furniture, in Israel, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.

"Already, during those years, projects and companies were established, and Israeli designers designed many products," Kruk adds. "But for reasons that are unclear, they failed to remain in the public awareness, and no effort was made to preserve them in an orderly, archival fashion."

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Kruk, one of the owners of the Armadillo Studio, finds evidence of the importance of government emphasis on design in statements made by former MK Shulamit Aloni, in the opening ceremony of Israel's first "Design Week," 40 years ago:

"Remember that our homes are small, our women work, our incomes are low, and the culture of community and family life seeks access to design," Aloni said.

The current exhibit, "The Formative Years of Product Design in Israel: 1955-1975," on display in the Gallery for Experimental Art and Architecture, at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, includes an impressive and original collection of products, catalogues, presentations, manuals, and photographs. It depicts diverse methods employed in those years to promote the field: Competitions, exhibits, conferences, sending emissaries abroad, establishment of academic design institutions, the addition of a design department to the Industry and Trade Ministry - and more.

Kruk gathered valuable historical data regarding material design in Israel while writing her thesis for the Tel Aviv University Unit of Cultural Research. She says Segev, head curator at the Gallery for Experimental Art and Architecture, spearheaded the exhibit after reading her research.

"Gathering information took almost two years, and there were many difficulties," she recalls. "During the period my research examines, initiatives to promote design were part of a government framework. All the documents that described this activity in Israel were preserved in the State Archive, but it was not easy to get a hold of them. In addition, commercial firms and designers did not keep their products."

In her efforts to collect products designed in Israel 30-50 years ago, Kruk turned to kibbutzim, like Kibbutz Hazorea, that were involved in the design of a variety of products. She put up announcements on kibbutz bulletin boards, asking residents to check their homes for products manufactured during the relevant period.

"Unfortunately, I received very few items. Most of them were discarded over the years," she says. "I arrived at the Israeli Institute for Packing and Design, only moments before their archive, from that period, was thrown in the trash."

Documentation vanished

In answer to questions regarding the lack of any effort to preserve Israel's material history, Kruk says, "People did not consider design to be valuable - nor did they know that it had cultural significance. The products were neither sexy nor glamorous; these were day-to-day items. In those days, they mainly focused on cleaning products, bottles, plastic containers, etc. Toward the end of the 1970s, designers sensed a decrease in government support, and a growing number of independent designers emerged, who were not careful about documenting their work. In practice, there was no directing authority that recognized the value of preserving these products and working methods. Documentation vanished and, with it, a significant portion of Israeli culture."

Kruk's research examined the culture of design in Israel, which began with American aide to promote industry. In 1956, the first Israeli branch of the International Product and Development Organization (IPDO) was established under joint American and Israeli management. The industrial design firm focused on professional design education and strove to integrate design in industry. IPDO personnel designed hundreds of products and established standards for working methods that are still in effect today.

The firm operated for three years before it dissolved. Israeli designers that worked there, including Arieh Solomon, Art Lavi, and Natan Kirpichnikov, continued to work in other settings. Solomon designed the last model of the Rom Carmel car, in the 1970s. He was also responsible for the design of plastic silverware used by El Al passengers. The silverware was manufactured by the Tama plastics plant at Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek. The eating utensils that Solomon designed for El Al earned him first price at the first local Design Week, in 1967.

"In the 1970s, the design profession died out because Israeli industry was not sufficiently developed," Kruk says. "At the beginning of the 1990s, local industry began to blossom and design was revived. Now, there is diverse industry but insufficient design initiatives on the part of the government."

Kruk and Segev hope the exhibit will elevate design to a prominent position in the public agenda and clarify its importance as an integral part of Israeli culture. They hope the exhibit will be a first step toward creating an archive to document the history of design since the establishment of the state.

"Historical documentation of design in Israel is no less important than the products themselves, because it permits us to investigate the roots from which contemporary design sprung," Kruk adds. "I do not try to depict the success or failure of products. Nor do I analyze which products were well-designed and which were designed poorly. But I try to present a repertoire of 'blue and white' products that should be remembered."

"The Formative Years of Product Design in Israel: 1955-1975," the P.K. Hoenich Gallery for Experimental Art and Architecture, at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Until the beginning of February. Details at English Web site: www.technion.ac.il/gallery/english/e_e1.html