Holon
— — the city that built itself around children.
Not only on a wall.
“The Children's City. Founded in 1935 on the sand dunes south of Tel Aviv, Holon now runs to nearly two hundred thousand people. The Israeli Children's Museum, the Design Museum Holon with Ron Arad's loops of red Cor-Ten steel from 2010, the Mediatheque, the Story Garden. A planned grid of low buildings the coastal sun bleaches white. — from the studio
Holon, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Holon sits on the coastal plain of central Israel, immediately south of Tel Aviv and about five kilometres inland from the Mediterranean. It was founded in 1935 on dunes, named for the Hebrew word for sand, and grew through the 1950s as an industrial centre. The population is now roughly 196,000. Since the 1990s the city has rebranded as Ir HaYeladim, the Children's City, anchored by the Israeli Children's Museum, the Story Garden, the Mediatheque cultural complex, and the Design Museum Holon, which opened in 2010.
The Design Museum Holon is the city's architectural landmark: five looping bands of weathering steel by the Israeli designer Ron Arad, finished in 2010 at a cost of about $15 million. The Cor-Ten ribbons wrap two interior galleries and oxidise to a deep red against the bleached coastal light. Around it, older industrial blocks and 1950s housing estates run in a low grid. The Story Garden, on a quiet residential street, sets sculptures from twelve Israeli children's books along a walking path.
The Israeli Children's Museum runs guided experiences only, including the Dialogue in the Dark and Invitation to Silence tours, and tickets must be booked in advance through the museum's website. The Design Museum Holon is open Monday through Saturday with rotating exhibitions on a timed ticket. The Mediatheque holds the Holon Theatre, the cinematheque, and a public library. Public buses from Tel Aviv reach the city centre in about thirty minutes; the nearest train station is Holon Junction on the coastal line.