"Afikim Iconography" is a local graphic project that aims to elevate the images and details of our childhood home - Kibbutz Afikim. In the course of our lives in the kibbutz yard, the buildings, appliances, and objects that were part of our everyday lives, used by us and as objects, were taken for granted. As we grew up and left Afikim, we began to notice the beauty of these objects, most of which were made by the laborers who founded the kibbutz at the beginning of the last century. 

 

Afikim is one of the oldest kibbutzim in Israel. Afikim's icons reveal the story of a design language born out of necessity and without knowledge. All objects and buildings were built to address a problem or the well-being of the kibbutz members, whether it was street lighting, a children's home, or bicycle parking.

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We began the project by surveying objects, corners, and events from the farmyard, debating what an icon is, and whether it is local mythology or a universal concept.

 

With each new object in the collection, the language became more sophisticated, and we discovered that all objects - from the dining room tray to a water tower - obey the same rules in their own way: the raw materials reappear, the production methods repeat, internal aesthetics are common to all objects and above all light The eternal sun of the valley and the dark shadow that falls across everything