MUGI – My Unique Gift Idea

Up until five years ago, Iris Braunstein-Shemesh (38) was a textile designer. And like many other women, she felt she wanted more, much more, from life. “I always worked with handmade material, and with the birth of my second child I decided to try to work independently,” she remembered with a smile. In a bustling studio in the town of Beit Hanan rest pictures of her husband and three children, “the source of my strength” she says. She began designing colorful bracelets made of Perspex and covered with silk, brushed with a polished glaze, called herself Iris Designs and decided to turn to the American market.

The beginning was an accessory exhibition at the notable ENK in New York, and the orders began to flow in. Braunstein-Shemesh couldn’t believe that this was actually happening to her. Later on she found her bracelets featured in highly respected magazines, among them the New York Times Magazine and Vogue, and finally she received an order for 500 bracelets to the United States.

Through the years she began designing necklaces, earrings, and matching belts for her bracelets, yet the worldwide hit was, and still is the bracelets, which also became more sophisticated with time. The original simple colorful versions, painted and decorated by one of five women in her studio (“there is nothing here that is machine-made”), were augmented with handmade sequins and drawings, with large stones or small crystals on top, adding a three-dimensionality to the vibrancy that characterizes the bracelets. The most in demand, was and continues to be a tiger bracelet wrapped red lily, but every few seasons new collections are debuted that match the seasonal colors and trends. Right now, black and white combination bracelets lay on her arm (“they’re always in style”), but there are also bracelets with butterfly imprints, and retro style circles and stripes. A small part of the collection is in the romantic style, for those who like the genre.

What materials are your bracelets made of?

“The bracelets are a collage of material: perspex, silk, gold leaves, strings, chains and crystals, but there are also our own handmade designs. There are even bracelets with zippers. The bracelet itself is made of perspex, and I feel indebted to the material. There’s something soft, plasticy about it. I love that characteristic.”

What is the source of your inspiration?

“Everything I see enters my world of design. I run away from design that reminds me of something else. I want to make something that doesn’t exist yet. I paint pretty much everything with my styles and textures, so everyone can find something that matches her taste, and it’s important for me not to characterized by one defined style. I do a lot of sketches, sometimes tens of them, until I get the right product in my view. The women in my studio are part of the creation and thought process.”

What makes your design unique?

“Vibrant colors are my thing, my biggest weakness. I love color, and in my eyes there’s something right about perfectly mismatched colors. I consider the smallest details. Even the inside part of the bracelet is uniquely ornamented. A lot of flower bracelets were ordered for the summer and green will be the dominant color.”

To what do you attribute your success?

“There’s something in Israeli art in general that’s exceptional. We Israelis create designs with daring, lacking any boundaries. There are no borders in my jewelry. I’m not dictated to. I dictate.”

As for now, Braunstein-Shemesh’s 200 bracelet designs can be found in the United States (most of them at Lord and Taylor), Canada, Greece, England, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as a few chosen boutique stores in Israel (“I didn’t build on the Israeli market, since it’s very small”). Soon she’s coming out on the Judaica product line, with colorful Mezuzahs and Hamsas.