Prof. Ezri Tarazi (Israel) 04.06.2012

The City of Poznań and the School of Form at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities cordially invite you to an open lecture entitled "Design narratives" to be delivered by Prof. Ezri Tarazi of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

The lecture on "Design narratives" will be held on June 4, 2012 at 5 p.m. in the building of the School of Form located at 18 Głogowska St. (the area of the International Poznan Fair), Room 23.


Prof. Ezri Tarazi is the founder of the Israeli Design Centre,  the founder and  Director of the Tarazi Design Studio, and the Programming Director and lecturer on the Master's graduate programme of the Bezalel Art and Design Academy in Tel Aviv in such majors as Industrial Design and Design Management. He is also a member of the Curator Committee of the Holon Design Museum in Israel. In 2006, he assumed the position of Director of the Design Studio in Herzyala, Israel.

In 1987, he graduated with honours from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in the Department of industrial design. Since the early 1990's he has been the coordinator for the education of command instructors at the Marine Academy of the Israeli Maritime Academy, while in 1990-1996 he was an industrial design project manager in the DEA Research & Development Studio in Jerusalem (medical and protection equipment for internal security). Since 1993, he has been operating as an independent designer. Then, in 1996 he founded the Tarazi Design Studio in Shoham, Israel. During 1996-2004 he worked as the Director of the Department of Industrial Design at the Bezalel Arts and Design Academy in Jerusalem, to put it in the lead in design education in Israel. In 2004-2006, he was the Head of the master's graduate programme in industrial design at the Bezalel Academy, introducing courses in industrial design (since 2004) and design management (since 2005).

In 1998-2001, he cooperated as a partner with IDEO Israel, a subsidiary of the famous design studio in Palo Alto, California. His efforts in 2004 lead him to establish the Israeli Design Centre.

In 2006, he was appointed Director of the Herzalya design studio in Israel, where items are produced branded with the logo of Keter Plastic, an international leader in polymer products such as the famous plastic folding chair, which epitomises the democratic (universal) design.

Ezri Tarazi is mostly involved in designing high-tech appliances and office equipment, as well as in experimenting with the design of daily necessities. His most seminal work is the New Bagdad chair, produced in 2006 by the Edra workshop from Milan. His clients also include Airwell, Beko, Magink, Sagitta, Applied Materials, Sonarics and Microsoft.

As a journalist - a design theoriser - he has been published i.a.in the Haaretz magazine in Tel Aviv. Also, he has been the curator for many design exhibitions which put on display both the beginners' design works by graduates of the Bezalel Academy and works by acclaimed designers, e.g. Yacoov Kaufmann, the most celebrated Israeli designer within the middle-aged generation.

Ezri Tarazi's works have been honoured many times - in 1989 he was given the Ben Dor award, and a year later received the Sapir prize for outstanding achievements in design. 1999 saw him receiving an honour in the international Nagoya Design Do+ACE competition in Japan, while in 2000 he was acclaimed by the New York Times in the "Capturing Time" awards, which resulted in his involvement in an exhibition displayed by the American Museum of Natural History. In 2002, Tarazi was recognised as "the Designer of the Year" by the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Science in the industrial design category.  

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