Metal master
Jerusalem-based art jeweler Amitai Kav looks to galleries for the next phase of his career

September 01, 2008

From his home and workshop in Jerusalem's hilly Malha neighborhood, Israeli jeweler Amitai Kav can't see the old city, which lies just past a not-so-distant hill. Nevertheless, its profound energy informs his work, distinctive gold and gemstone designs inspired by his passion for antique Indonesian jewelry along with his latest find, Middle Eastern beads.

"I've recently added elements like these Bedouin and Arab beads in precious metal, a new direction for me," says the self-taught jeweler as he holds a gold necklace featuring Yemenite filigree work and kite-shaped metallic beads derived from the look of traditional Arab spice boxes, all handmade in the upstairs workshop.

Bearing trademark accents like intricate clasps, bezel-set diamonds and white gold alloyed with palladium (resulting in a sophisticated gray sheen), Kav's jewelry uses a few recurring motifs.

Chief among them is an old standby: metalwork ribbons meant to evoke the organic forms of the human body. In this way, Kav, who grew up on Israel's Kibbutz Negba, pays homage to his father, a biology and anatomy teacher.

As the self-described "artsy one" on the kibbutz, Kav studied dance and jewelry-making, one reason the design influences he cites are rather unexpected. For example, the card-carrying peacenik—Kav created the Dove of Peace pin that became a recognized symbol of the Middle East peace process in the 1990s—grew fascinated by the spring mechanism of old handmade rifles some 40 years ago, when he first started selling jewelry on the streets of Jerusalem. "The idea of using springs came to me from them," he says.

A veteran of the art-school teaching circuit, Kav taught jewelry design at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Parsons School of Design in New York. He also spent 12 years as a faculty member of the jewelry design department at Jerusalem's Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. When teaching eventually tired him, he returned to his first and true love, the workshop.

"All my talents are in the mechanical and metal arena," says Kav with characteristic modesty. "Making jewelry is the thing I like to do best."

Although Kav is well-known by certain art-jewelry-loving clientele, who can find his work at his store, Luvaton Kav, on Yoel Salomon, Jerusalem's main shopping street; in windows at the upscale King David and David Citadel hotels; or at any of the Jewish conferences he attends throughout the year, the jeweler hopes to make a bigger push toward international galleries in 2008.

"I'd love to grow a little bit," he says, with a smile.

Amitai Kav (above right) makes gold jewels from start to finish in the workshop above his Jerusalem home, including his new Bead collection of bracelets (above left), earrings and necklaces featuring Yemenite motifs rendered in gold (some alloyed with palladium), and his iconic Dove of Peace pin (top left), made for the 1994 peace talks between Israel and Jordan.