Jeremy Kimchi is a wood artist who creates beautiful hand-carved furniture in his Kfar Adumim workshop. He always had an affinity for trees, he says, having grown up in the countryside of upstate New York. Here he finds inspiration for his creations in the stark Negev landscape near his home, far from the lush, green forests of his childhood.“My aim is to bring the natural beauty of wood and my artistic vision into homes and synagogues,” says the 48-year-old father of three, who first came to Israel in 1980 as a teenager with his parents, both visiting professors.While his father was taking a sabbatical at the Hebrew University from his work at Cornell, and his mother, a historian, was taking time off from her job at Ithaca College, the family came to spend a year here when he was in 10th grade.
“We all fell in love with the country and knew that this was the place we wanted to live in,” he says. “We all came to the same decision independently.”He went back to finish high school, then came to spend a year on Kibbutz Yavne, during which time the family gradually became religiously observant. They formally made aliya in 1982.Soon afterward, his mother began volunteering at a Jerusalem hospital in the hope that it would improve her Hebrew. There she found a baby whose parents had abandoned him because he had been born with spina bifida, and the family adopted him.“My younger brother is today 28 and a great guy,” says Kimchi.When it came to choosing a career, he knew he wanted to do something with his hands, but first decided to get a degree in Jewish history and Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University. He considered doing a second degree, but finally decided there would be no more academic studies; he wanted to learn woodwork.He took the Labor Ministry’s basic course, but quickly realized this was not going to be enough for what he had in mind.“I knew I was not going to make kitchen cabinets all my life,” he says.He went back to the States for a year as an apprentice to a master carpenter, and this proved to be life-changing for him. His teacher, who had been a clinical psychologist before taking up woodwork, had a strong influence on his future.“The studies combined old techniques and new creative ways of doing things,” he says.He also began to dabble in sculpture.“I was drawn to the whole sculptural approach,” he says. “I like creating fluid lines and a three-dimensionality to my pieces, not just leaving them as flat planes.”In 1992, he set up his workshop in Kfar Adumim, where he lives with his wife, Ariella, and quickly established himself, making one-of-a-kind custom furniture.He hardly ever stains a piece of wood, preferring to leave it in its natural state and juxtaposing different grains and colors to get certain effects.His aim is to bring the natural beauty of wood and his own artistic vision into homes and synagogues, and he is already well-established in this field. Many a synagogue around the country is adorned with his work.“There are tons of things you can do in a synagogue,” he says. “You can fill the space with beautiful and creative pieces which are spiritually uplifting.”It takes him several months to create an ark to hold Torah scrolls and to embellish it with his original designs.He particularly likes doing synagogue art because it is not hidden in a private home, but is there for all to see and enjoy.“Most of my art is functional art,” he says. “I’m trying to bring the art into the craft, and I find the creating of one-of-a-kind pieces challenging – a custom piece has to fit into a given space.”Often he will work with the client, figuring out their likes and dislikes until he has a picture of what it is they want.“I’ve learned many things by listening to what clients have to say,” he says. “People come up with good ideas which are not always relevant but can be used later. We create the pieces together.”He took up the martial art of Tai Chi about 14 years ago and practices it on a daily basis.“It’s not just a wholesome activity that you can do when you get older,” he says, “but it’s about being in control and relaxed at the same time.”For Kimchi, the Tai Chi plays an important role in his work, too, and he feels the measured, graceful movements of the art influence him when it comes to design.“It all makes sense,” he says.Looking back on a happy childhood spent in a beautiful rural yet cultured part of the United States, he says he never regretted relocating to Israel and the very different landscape, both natural and human, that he has found here.“I feel connected to the people here,” he says. “Even if they sometimes don’t act in a way you want them to, I’m still very happy here and glad to be raising my children in this country.”Even though he still misses the smell of wet moss from his childhood woodland home, he would not be anywhere else.“This is where I have put in my stakes,” he says.The wood artist
‘My aim is to bring the natural beauty of wood and my artistic vision into homes and synagogues,’ says Jeremy Kimchi.
