Gypsy Heart - Globetrotting Designer Haya Elfasi’s Jewelry is a Festival of Color

April 26, 2010 - PRLog -- It’s no surprise that her jewelry collection follows the same guiding principles.



“When you see my jewelry, it’s like a big festival,” says the goldsmith and self-taught designer. “It has a lot of passion, a lot of life.”



Indeed, Elfasi’s fine jewelry is nothing if not exuberant. Inspired by her Moroccan family and two decades of globetrotting, the collection includes a large focus on faceted diamond and colored stone beads in clusters that shimmer and shake like the coins on a belly dancer’s scarf.



Sold at upscale designer fairs such as the Sofa show in Chicago, Elfasi’s collection has been snapped up by gallerists in Dubai, Tokyo and the U.S. Her real coup, however, came in June 2008, when Bergdorf Goodman, New York’s famed luxury emporium, opened their doors to her.



“My dream was to sell at Bergdorf and everybody laughed at me,” Elfasi says. “I knocked on their door five times and they finally let me in.”



What had she done to persuade the notoriously discerning retailer to give her a shot?



“I went to the bank and got a loan” Elfasi recalls. “I jump in the sea and buy diamonds.”






And not just any diamonds. Elfasi was drawn to diamonds in varying colors, from white to yellow to gray. She had them drilled and strung on fishing wire. At the moment, she’s working on a new collection of colored diamonds patterned after an antique chandelier she picked up at a market in Tel Aviv.



Even Elfasi’s house in the Israeli city of Hadera, part studio, part beach chalet, reflects her zesty approach to life. “After five minutes here, you know I’m a designer,” Elfasi says. “I paint my house on the outside with three colors. Very yellow because of the sun, the energy of life. Turquoise to guard against the evil eye. And very dark brown to represent the land. Everything in Israel is one color, beige and white. But my house is exactly like my jewelry. I live in a fairy tale.”

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