3/14/2010

Meet Artisans Gallery Team Member - anakim

article by Jill of glazedOver
We continue our Artisans Gallery introductions with Orna, our French translator and the artist behind the unique and elegant gold and silver jewelry shop: anakim.
orna's studio inside
Orna’s studio
Tell us a little about yourself My name is Orna. I am the designer and creator behind anakim which in Hebrew means “necklaces.” I’m married and have wonderful, grown up sons who are my greatest pride. orna's studio outside
Outside Orna’s studio
I live in sunny Israel and I love my life very much. I’m a happy person and am very easy to please. I’ve been a Graphic Designer for many years. I’ve had my own studio and have worked for several major companies in Israel until recently when I realized that I had reached a point professionally that would enable me to implement my other dream and vision. After exploring many different types of media, I feel I finally have found my calling in designing and creating jewelry. It fills me with such tremendous joy that I can never have enough of it. Besides creating jewelry, I love to read books, to travel around the world, and to spend precious time with family and friends.

How did you come to be fluent in more than one language?

Due to my father’s work, my family lived abroad in different places and when I was a teenager, we spent a couple of years in a beautiful place in France. There, I went to a local girls only (!) school and learned French.
Ok, you speak French, but you also speak Hebrew, right? What other secrets are you hiding?
If I tell, it won’t be a secret any more, would it? Nope, I’m not telling.
Tell us about your Etsy shop. I opened my shop about couple of years ago without any expectations or assumptions. I love designing and making jewelry from scratch and never imagined that so many people, from all over the world, would love them as much as I do. I couldn’t be happier. Besides selling, I love the Etsy community. The connections I have made with different people from many different places without encountering any barriers of language or culture has been so rewarding.
Tell us one quick/funny story.
Since this post is about me as translator for the Artisans Gallery Team, I thought you might find this story to be funny:
Over the last couple of years, I have made a lot of friends on Etsy and have been corresponding with them from time to time. One of them expressed her wish to come to Israel and meet me in person. She sent me an email asking what she said might be a weird question: “Do you speak English or some different language? I never know because Etsy translates it for us.”
(Wouldn’t it be great if Etsy could do that for us! )
il_430xN.104797828[1]

Teach us how to say something in Hebrew When you comment on a treasury you can write:
Maxim = enchanting, wonderful
Madhim = exquisite
A’havti ! = love it!
…and here are some other useful phrases:
Laila Tov = good night (which for us is US lunch time)
Boker Tov = good morning (when I wake up and most of
you are still on cloud 9)
Toda Raba= Thanks so much.
Did we forget to ask you anything important? Nope, but I would like to take the opportunity to say how much I'm glad and grateful to be part of the Artisans Gallery Team and to express my gratitude to all our team "admins" for pulling all of this together. You're all great!
Click here to see more pictures from the anakim workshop: anakim on flickr

25 comments:

veroque said...

Great article ! It's nice to know more about you Orna and thanks to Jill:)

Monica said...

What a lovely feature!

I have admired Orna's work from the moment I found her here on Etsy and it's been a pleasure to learn more about her.

pey said...

Maxim to Jill's interview.
Madhim to Orna's work.
A'havti to both !

Kreativlink said...

Toda Raba! Loved to read this article. It's always wonderful to learn more about the people behind the "avatars".
Hehehe... and I loved the "Etsy translates it for us" comment :D

Unknown said...

Wonderful article!!

Kendra Zvonik said...

What a thrill to get to know Orna a little better! She is one of the first people I connected with when I started on Etsy a couple of years ago. She is such a supportive friend and kind individual, as well as an extremely talented and gifted jeweler. Keep up the beautiful work, Orna!
Maxim!
xoxo Kendra

steinschmuckdesign said...

That is so wonderful to know a bit
more about you, Orna!
I adore your Jewelry you already know that,
but together with your interview,
I am even more impressed!
Thanks so much Jill for sharing!!

steinschmuckdesign said...

That is so wonderful to know a bit
more about you, Orna!
I adore your Jewelry you already know that,
but together with your interview,
I am even more impressed!
Thanks so much Jill for sharing!!

Lee Wolfe Pottery OneClayBead said...

Wonderful interview, Jill! I'm a huge fan of Anakim and didn't know that it means necklaces! Orna, your studio and garden look so sunny, cheerful and creative. Like your jewelry, it has so much of your essence and personality. And don't you WISH that everything we wrote on Etsy got translated!!! I don't speak any other language well and have had some truly funny convos with international customers :)
Lee/OneClayBead

Anonymous said...

I just loved learning more about my friend Orna! What a beautiful view outside of her studio! Great article~ A’havti!

Unknown said...

hi orna-- so wonderful to read about you and for you to share at least a few of your secrets :)

love learning your hebrew words- and seeing photos of your workspace and area-- so lovely and light filled. ..and is that a lemon tree outside your studio?---
nice interview jill--

toda raba!

kathi

anakim said...

Thanks so much for your sweet comments - besides being talented artisan you're all such quick learners!
It's been a pleasure to do this - Toda raba Jill!
Kathie - it's a Komquat (chinese orange) but I have a Lemon tree too:)

TheJoyofColor said...

Oran your studio looks great.
Its so nice to read about you and see we have quite a few things in common besided being both Israely's
Thank you Jill.

Jenny Sea Pinks/ Bubbletime said...

So great to get to know you a little better, what a fun read!

maisy and alice said...

Great interview, so nice to learn a little more about Orna!

KnotOriginal said...

It was a pleasure to meet you Orna, although now my mind is running crazy wondering about those secrets...: )
~Shalom

Jennifer Cowgill said...

I love your interview Orna! It looks like whatever you do you are good at, no matter what path you choose in life.

Your studio looks so open and airy. I chuckled at the Etsy translates for us.

marsar said...

Boker tov!!
nice to meet you Orna!! you are a fantastic artist and it's great to have you in the team!!
xoxo

Andrea

noblegnome said...

It's so nice to get to know the person behind the shop name. I've loved your work since the moment I laid my eyes on it.

Hugs,
Anna

blissed out said...

I just love Orna's jewelry...and it's so nice to learn more about her! what a lovely interview!

ira said...

What a lovely feature and Orna works so beautiful!

Victoria Webb said...

It's so great to see a little of Orna's studio and the flora of Israel. Her work is stunning and I love that she's teaching us to speak her language....

Intres said...

Great artist, I love your work. :)

Lynn Lunger said...

What a lovely view into your work and life Orna! I always thought anakim was your name, so it's very interesting to learn the real meaning. It is so neat combined with your name Orna, which seems to be short for ornament -which your lovely work certainly does.

Wonderful interview!

Renegade Perceptions said...

Great article! I really love her work.