Twenty five years ago, Michal Negrin started selling jewelry at the
artists’ market in Tel Aviv’s Nahalat Binyamin before opening a store on
Sheinkin Street. Today she and her husband, Meir, are the owners of a
jewelry, fashion and interior design empire with 60 stores in Israel and
abroad, including, Japan, the US, France and Italy. Their products are
developed, designed and manufactured in the company’s Bat Yam factory,
which employs more than 250 workers.
Negrin, who grew up on
Kibbutz Na’an, lives in Neveh Tzedek, a Tel Aviv neighborhood that she
views as a combination of a city and a kibbutz. Her husband is the
president of the company, and their daughter, Yasmin, works at the
factory on her own fashion brand, Stardust.
Negrin loves baking cakes and collecting unique dolls, but more than anything else, she loves her colorful and creative work.
How does it feel to have your name and work associated with an entire style?
When
I started designing jewelry, I stood out in the scene because Israel
was known mainly for gold and silver jewelry. I feel lucky that my job
is what I like to do most and that, together with my husband, I have
established a business full of optimism, color and harmony.
When I
travel around the world, I meet people who say they were inspired by my
work when designing their homes, and I’m happy to know that the items I
designed bring joy to their lives as well.
Did your fascination with angels start in your childhood? Growing
up on a kibbutz, I always felt somewhat different. Our home was
designed in my mother’s unique style. She added aesthetic elements and a
personal statement to every sphere. I have always been drawn to beauty
and loved using unconventional materials. From every style or time
period I like, I take the elements that I relate to and use them to
create a world of my own, where I change constantly. Angels used to be
central in my graphics, but today I relate more to graphic stories, with
a combination of interesting dolls, 3D and a contrast between revealed
and concealed elements.
Do you live the style that is associated with your name? First,
I design the things I like for myself, and then I share my world with
others. The fashion department of our company was conceived because I
felt I had no clothes I liked to wear. I couldn’t find the colorfulness
and graphic aspects I was looking for. Over time, demand for our clothes
increased, and today the fashion department manufactures two
collections a year, so now I always have something to wear.
In
the factory in Bat Yam we set up a gallery and a visitors’ center
designed exactly like my home, and that’s the feeling I want there to be
when people enter my store -- a homelike and inviting atmosphere, an
entrance to another world that is different from the somewhat alienated
world outside.
Are you a romanticist in other areas of your life? I’m
a romantic type, but I’m also a doer. I’m constantly developing my
world to dimensions I never thought I would get to, and that always
fascinates me.
Which aspect of your work do you enjoy most? I
especially enjoy seeing how, every day, thanks to our staff of talented
people, I can fulfill the dream I had the night before. We always have
interesting projects underway, and something new happens almost every
day.
A recent project I take pride in features exhibits for a new
design concept in stores abroad. It’s a combination of movement, light,
visual stories and color that express the optimistic atmosphere we
create in our factory. I find it very rewarding.
What have been the heights of your success so far? The
international success -- every new store that opens abroad is a huge
excitement. I feel like an Israeli ambassador. Apart from feeling proud,
I am intrigued to meet new people and discover different cultures and
beautiful places all over the world. Every time, I am thrilled by the
friendships I form.
Another highlight is my daily routine --
arriving at our factory in the morning and giving life to an idea I
have. I’ve been blessed with the chance to do what I love most, and
that’s the biggest accomplishment from my point of view.
What characterizes your current collection? Several
jewelry categories, each from a different place. I used new materials
for the first time, such as polymeric stones combined with gold and
silver leaves, and golden bracelets made up of links. I gave them all a
twist with turquoise and gold, unusual color combinations of green and
fuchsia, as well as a line of black, gothic-style jewelry.
Why was Noa Tishby chosen to represent the brand? Noa
was a long-time dream of mine and Meir’s. When we first decided to
select a presenter for the brand, her name immediately came up. She is
international, but her roots are planted in Israel.
She promotes
Israel, is beautiful and a great example of a woman who does what I
would like to see more of: She goes all the way with her dreams, is
strong, independent and still feminine and delightful. Her humor and
intelligence have made me her number one fan.
If I had to choose just one of your items, which would you recommend? The
one that would best suit your personality, the piece of jewelry that
would make you feel the pleasure of being a woman when you wear it. This
is a statement that a customer from Singapore wrote to me, and it was
our previous slogan.
Which item from your collection would you take on a desert island? If
I had to choose just one, I would take my favorite item from the latest
collection. Usually when I design a piece of jewelry or a new item of
clothing, I become infatuated with it and say that it is the prettiest
we have ever had.