CoinOp

Tsilli Pines is a Portland-based creative wonder. She has her hands in all types of creative projects, many of which reference her Jewish heritage. We became enamored with Tsilli’s work when her chipboard Alef Betty posters came through the shop. Read on for Tsilli’s thoughts on her personal projects, contemporary design, and making time for everything!

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We are very excited around the shop about your chipboard Hebrew alphabet posters. Tell us about Alef Betty and the process of getting the project started. I imagine it was a very personal and inspiring process!

Thank you! I’m super excited about the posters. Alef Betty has been germinating for quite some time, so it’s thrilling to finally put her out into the world!

In terms of the collection, I wanted to make products that I felt like I was constantly looking for and not finding. But I also wanted to tell the story of who I am and where I come from, because that’s where my interest in creating these objects originates. And from there the vision has expanded to sharing stories from other people, to paint a broader picture of modern Jewish life.

Designing the posters was a wonderful adventure in itself. I sought out today’s best Hebrew type and my quest led me to some amazing typographers in Israel, like Oded Ezer and Hagilda. Making the connection with these folks and working with their type drew me closer to the Hebrew culture of today. I wanted to share that excitement in the posters.

How have your family members reacted to the project?

The response has been great! Some of the pictures were dug out of shoeboxes, and I’ve heard from a few cousins that they hadn’t seen some of them before. I was a bit nervous about how my family would feel, but everyone seems really excited.

In addition to Alef Betty, your New Ketubah project also references your Jewish culture and heritage. You seamlessly integrate contemporary design aesthetics with time-honored traditions in strikingly beautiful and thoughtful solutions. Tell us about the impetus for these projects.

I always wanted to create a design collection of my own. But so many other makers were producing lines of gorgeous modern design that I wondered what I had to contribute. Then I got engaged. My husband and I looked around for a ketubah and we couldn’t find a piece that was quite right for us, so I ended up making our ketubah. A friend of mine asked me to design hers, as well, and I started thinking that other people might also be drawn to what I was doing. I realized that this was the opportunity I had been looking for: a niche where not a lot of people were making contemporary objects.

But I honestly didn’t anticipate the enormous gratification that I felt as I started making these pieces. I had always worked as a commercial designer and the experience of making something so personal for people was new. The difference was that my work wasn’t solving business goals, but rather making people happy and giving them a sense of connection with their heritage and their community. The difference was huge–I felt so fulfilled by that. So a lot of what I try to do now focuses on deepening that connection, on doing work that links people with a sense of humanity and community.

Has your personal work always reflected a sense of self?

I’ve tried to make my work personal, because I am most inspired by the personal work of other artists. Even when their experiences are quite different from mine, I connect most with honesty. So I’ve always tried to work with what I know, and communicate who I am.

You have years of web design experience, but you also work with printed matter and use paper as a medium (I’m thinking of your Figures series in particular.) Do you ever feel a tension between these two worlds, between the digital design of information and the tangible nature of print?

Web and print are just different media for communicating a message. The experience of working with each medium is quite different, and they demand different skill-sets. But if the design is successful, I think the medium is transparent and almost irrelevant.

What I like about the web is the interaction you can have — its benefit tends to be most fertile after you’ve finished the bulk of the making. But creating a physical piece is a more tactile, physical act that connects you more in the process of realizing the work.

So it’s fun to be able to do both! I believe in the Renaissance model, of being broadly interested in and engaged with many things.

You have your hands in so many great projects! How do you make time for it all?

The truth is that I only recently came into a lot of bandwidth for my personal work. In February, I left a full-time job with a great design studio where I had worked for eight years. So the stuff that I used to do on the side has suddenly become center-stage. Whereas I was fitting smaller stuff in the cracks before, I can now go full-speed on bigger projects, like Alef Betty.

You’ve lived and worked in San Francisco and New York. What brought you to Portland? How do you like it?

Portland is the best. So many amazing artists and chefs all in one place! I love New York and the Bay Area, too, but the truth is that the cost of living eventually felt overwhelming to me. I wanted to have lower overhead so that I could work on the things I wanted to work on.

What’s next on your plate? Any big plans for the rest of 2010?

So many plans! This is the year where I get a bunch of stuff off the back burner and put it into overdrive. New ketubah designs, new products and stories for Alef Betty, new collaborations, new art series. I’ve got a ton of stuff cooking. For folks who are interested in staying in the know about my latest doings, my mailing list is the key to the inner sanctum.

Thank you Tsilli!