Jaffa Archives - Sivan Askayo Blog

Vintaging Jaffa; a Colorful Tour in my favorite vibrant Flea Market

October 22, 2012

If you, like me, love to visit flea markets wherever you travel, than this post is for you. If you are looking for one of the most trendiest areas in Tel Aviv – Jaffa these days, look no further. The flea market in Jaffa is the place to be.

A few weeks ago I met a colleague of mine, Karen Shavit, who is by the way, the Israeli version of Martha Stewart (but way younger) for a Rondez Vous in the flea market of Jaffa. Karen is definitely the ‘go-to’ person for everything that has to do with vintage and design and she is also the kind of woman who can easily and naturally combine business and pleasure. Therefore, I found myself touring some of her favorite spots in the flea market (which most of them happened to be favors of mine) and see in my own eyes and camera lens how everyone knows Karen and welcomes her with open arms.

This is my quick guide and a colorful tour for some of my favorite spots in the flea market of Jaffa.

Nekudot Chen

Might be one of the biggest stores with rare collections of furniture and decorations. The owners fix and restore old furnitures he collects from all over Israel. This is one of Karen’s ‘must stop’ store. When we were there, she was looking for these old hair dryers that beauty salons used to keep in the 70ies. Even though she didn’t find one, we could easily shop for old restored lamps for her kitchen, old scales, some street signs and more. For me, every time I visit this place, it is like being ‘Alice in Vintage-land’

Nekudot Chen, 13 Oley Zion street, Jaffa

Home Workshop

A two-floor store with an eclectic home decor collection from different locations in the world. The owner combines Bohemian chic with Oriental elements on a long dining table display in the center of the store. A little bit of mich- much but it seems that the regular clients easily find their ways there. One of the pictures I took of Home Workshop was published in Marie Claire Italy, September Issue.

Home Workshop, 4 Rabi Yochanan street, Jaffa

BoBo

BoBo stands for Bourgeois Bohême which refers in French to an artistic way of life, usually attached to yuppies. I wouldn’t necessarily say the clothes and accessories store attracts mostly yuppies but the BoBo sound of the French definition, definitely give it a different class. I love this little store. Especially the old bath-tub in the front window that serves as a decoration and as a place to hold some clothes. (don’t try it at home). The clothes are very vintage and the accessories look like little candies on a tray.

BoBo, 12 Rabi Pinchas corner of 4 Rabi Nachman, Jaffa

Ma’asiya

This is one of the most inspiring stores for me in the flea market. A gallery of two floors that serves as a meeting point for creative ideas and a collaboration among creative people. The store holds clothes for kids and adults, home textile, vintage crockery straight from the 60ies, toys, furnitures, and the highlight of the store are the recycled clothes made of pique blankets that people donate. The store’s concept is to support and promote needy groups in society; the elderly, the minorities and people with disabilities. It just make Ma’asiya even better.

Every time I visit Maasiya, I get this warm fuzzy and comfort feeling. Must be the nostalgic wave I get each time I see the pique fabric, that reminds me of my childhood.

Make Ma’asiya a MUST stop when you visit the flea market.

Maasiya, 3 Rabi Yochanan street, Jaffa

Tamara

When we entered the little store of Tamara, it was obvious from the start she has a great taste and a wild imagination. Using materials such as colorful stones, chunky feathers, glossy beads and embroidery make her jewelry line and accessories very theatrical. Everything is hand made. I loved the three drawers hung on one of the walls and serve as a great decoration and a way to showcase Tamara’s talent and taste. It’s a fun store and every woman can find something for herself.

Tamara, 16 Rabi Pinchas street, Jaffa

Sofi

Well, Hello to you blast of colors, Good bye boredom. This is exactly how I feel each time I visit Sofi store. It is like Willy Wonka but for fun accessories. You can shop for kitchen ware from Kitsch Kitchen, Toys, bags, accessories from the Danish concept store *Rice, (already on my bookmark) and some vintage Asian packaging designed boxes and objects from Wu & Wu. Don’t rush when you visit Sofi. It is a treasured store and you want to have the time to explore it.

Sofi, 3 Rabi Nachman street, Jaffa

Una Una Shoes

If you ever wondered how well-hand made shoes look like, I suggest you visit the studio Una Una. To be honest, I still didn’t buy myself a pair of shoes at the store, but I love the colored pairs the designer makes. The designer is an artist and every pair of shoes looks like a well-leather sculpture. I’m sure they are so comfortable to walk on. Beside the great shoes, the little store with a studio attached in the back, has a great vintage piano and some old sewing machines as a decoration display.

Una Una, 8 Rabi Yohanan street, Jaffa

Sharon Brunsher

Some people refer to Sharon Brunsher’s store as a ‘foster kid’ among the rest of the stores. She is definitely not vintage, and her clothes are only in the black, white and grey colors; the opposite of the vibrant feel of the flea market. Some people refer to her clean Nordic style as a breath of fresh air, or as a ‘chromo- break’ in the middle of the busy tempo of the market. And yet, Sharon Brunsher’s store is a great example and proof that Jaffa’s flea market is developing and becoming a trendy place, otherwise she wouldn’t have chosen this location. When I entered the store I got a smack of white light in my eyes (thanks to the white wooden floor) and it was great to touch some minimalistic and light fabrics through my fingers.

Sharon Brunsher, 13 Amihad street, Jaffa

Pua Restaurant

I can’t finish my vibrant vintage tour in Jaffa without a stop for a cup of coffee or a bite at Pua restaurant. The space looks like a retro apartment my grandparents used to have, filled with furnitures and decorations well collected from the vintage stores next door. Beside the eclectic atmosphere and design, Pua serves a great, earthy and tasty food. Israeli breakfast is served all day (a great plus for those who love a good well-balanced mediterranean breakfast) and the menu changes according to the owner’s desire. Rest asure that every day will be a good one. I highly recommend to make reservations (if possible) or be patient as this place is very busy.

Pua, 8 Rabi Yochanan street, Jaffa

In addition to all the goodies, the vintage finds or the retro feel, the flea market of Jaffa is a great place to shoot and encounter some interesting characters.

11 Comments

Editorials Travel

Marie Claire Italia September Issue

September 4, 2012

The Italian Fashion magazine Marie Claire ITALIA has picked up one of the images I took of the flea market scene in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and featured it in the latest September Issue.

The flea market in Jaffa and the Vintage scene in Tel Aviv in general, is quite remarkable and trendy (and I promise to write a full post about it soon) Meanwhile, here it is in Marie Claire ITALIA online.

‘Siamo a Jaffa, nel mercato delle pulci più grande d’Israele. «Qui si respira una nuovaatmosfera, se siete a Tel Aviv non perdetevela!», ci dice Sivan Askayo, fotoreporter israeliana di base a New York, autrice di Vintage retro chic: un viaggio fotografico, e un invito agironzolare, tra boutique vintage, negozietti di modernariato e pub retro-chic’

2 Comments

My Life in Polaroids

On the table: Vintaging Tel Aviv

April 20, 2012

In my current visit to Tel Aviv, I can’t ignore but noticing a common trend. Vintage! Or was it because I was visiting the old port in Jaffa the other day, where a busy, colorful vintage and flea market scene was taking place. I guess Tel Aviv is getting Vintage, and the more I saw it, the more I liked it. After a long shooting day in Jaffa, I met few friends for an early dinner. We were at that great restaurant, that holds a variety of old furniture, plates and kitchen ware. So eclectic! When I got my mint tea with the check, the waiter got it with a Nancy Reagan image! We couldn’t help but laughing how vintage can you go! Food was great, by the way :-)

0 Comments

Window or Aisle?

Intimacy under the Wires; How it all started

May 7, 2011

Like a lot of things in life, this photography project started with a random image. Like a lot of times in life, sometimes you have to get away from a place in order to rediscover it. These two sentences basically initiated my on-going photography project called “Intimacy Under the Wires.”

As a street photographer based in New York City, I hardly (if ever) come across the sight of laundry hung outside windows to get dry. It was a very common thing for me to see, however, when I grew up in Israel.

I was on a holiday visit to Israel on April 2010 when it all started.

I made plans to meet a friend at the flea market in old Jaffa and he was late. While waiting for him, I wandered the quiet back streets of this old and vivid neighborhood, when a woman’s voice from an upper floor caught my attention. I looked up and saw her hanging her laundry outside the balcony. For some, it may be an ordinary chore, but I haven’t seen that since I moved to Manhattan 10 years ago. I stayed there, standing in the street under the crumbling balcony, and observed her. Few minutes after she hung her clothes, a warm breeze from the sea came by and animated them.

I just had to take a picture!

After Tel Aviv, I had a stop in London for few days, and then there was the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, so I got stuck for a week there. I used the time to walk in the streets of London and take a lot of pictures. I was in Brixton, London, when I took this image, which is one of my favorites.

I think this image made me wonder about the people who wear these clothes. I really wanted to know more about them. What they do for a living? How do they look? But mostly wanted to know about their character. So I think this image really made me think further.

From looking at someone’s laundry we can tell so much about them and their families without even meeting them. Some have all work shirts, some party dresses, some uniforms, children’s clothes, tank tops, t-shirts, sexy lingerie and so on.

Laundry is something so personal and private yet so public. Looking at laundry seems so mundane, yet when you delve into it, you realize laundry tells of people’s intimate lives. They hang their sheets, their night clothes, even their underwear for all to see. We would never expose these personal things if we were actually in them, would we?

This project, which was named by Phaidon “Intimacy Under the Wires,” is not just about laundry.

It is about the differences among the cultures, the places and the people who wear these clothes. I love traveling to different places, taking portraits of city streets and their dynamics. I often say that I don’t take people’s portraits but cities’. Since that afternoon in Israel, I am drawn to images of laundry.

In every city there is that area, usually in old neighborhoods, where laundry is hung up outdoors. It amazes me to see how laundry is similar in different countries and cultures and yet so different. When I take a picture of laundry I always make sure to relate it to its location. Whether it’s a street sign, a building, a window, I am also interested in the texture and colors of the buildings where the laundry is out to dry.

Another layer hidden or not hidden in this project, beside intimacy, is our urge toward voyeurism. We are all voyeurs. Photographers maybe more than others.

When I shoot these images, I am standing under the laundry wires and waiting for the right moment, when a breeze passes by and brings life, energy and rhythm to the clothes. I find laundry very intimate and sexy, and when I shoot, the act of looking up, is like the feeling of being under someone, unseen, a voyeur, a spy, like sitting under the boardwalk at the beach and watching people walk by, unaware. And this is actually what we photographers mostly do: spy with our cameras and tell stories with the images.

“Intimacy Under the Wires” is an on-going project. It has been featured in the following blogs: Phaidon, Design Sponge, Design Milk, Feature Shoot, Trend Hunter, aCurator

Window or Aisle?

On the table: When life gives you lemon, make lemonade

April 19, 2011

I know there is that sentence ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. As for me, I just love to eat the lemons! Just like that. Straight. I am spending the month of April in Tel Aviv, my home town, for a holiday visit and my friends took me to this new Italian restaurant, in the middle of the flea market in Jaffa. It was a Saturday afternoon, the market was closed and the streets were quiet. We were talking about life in Tel Aviv in comparison to life in New York, about the latest Graffiti exhibit that was just opened in Tel Aviv museum (Street Art in a museum?) and how Tel Aviv is getting equipped with street bikes.

The sun was out, I was eating my lemons and catching up with friends was just perfect.

This shot was actually one of the first ones which initiated my on going project ‘On the Table’