Contemporary Household Objects and Judaica by ceMMent Design LLC

Designer Elevates The Mundane

By: Elliot Resnick, Jewish Press Staff Reporter
Friday May 4, 2007

Cement Judaica. Who would’ve thought?

Marit Meisler, daughter of famed Israeli sculptor Frank Meisler, has recently begun designing mezuzahs, menorahs, and several Shabbat candlestick holders using material usually associated with architecture and construction work sites.

“I was trying to think of an innovation,” Meisler said. “People think of cement as something cold, maybe rough. My designs are warm and refined.”

A designer in the modernist mold, Meisler said very little contemporary-style Judaica is available. “I wanted to provide a contemporary solution to artifacts that are usually traditional. There are a lot of Jewish people who live contemporary lives, enjoy contemporary designs, and might want to buy Shabbat candlesticks. This gives them an option to mix those two worlds together.”

Israeli-born and raised, Meisler graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and The London Institute Central Saint Martins. Although living in New York the past five years (with a studio now in East Williamsburg) Meisler says she and her husband plan on returning to Israel. “It’s home,” she said.

Prior to her use of cement in 2006, when she created ceMMent Design and www.ceMMent.com, Meisler designed various household items, furniture, and lighting fixtures. Her works have been displayed in several exhibitions, including the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile in Milan and the Felissimo Design House in New York.

Meisler’s designs employ a mixture of cements and aggregates that gives her items, she says, specific qualities of strength, color and texture. On some of the items she also uses stainless steel and protective rubber bottoms.

The creative and artistic side of her work is what drives her, Meisler said. But she also enjoys the business side. “My father is a designer and my mother manages his business, so I guess I inherited a bit of both,” she said.

Far from shying away from discussing her famous father, whose works have been presented as gifts to foreign dignitaries by the Israeli government, Meisler described him as the most interesting man she knows. She said he is very supportive of her despite their very different styles. “Our drive and passion are the same.”