AN ISRAELI PARCEL-GILT SILVER ETROG BOX, ARIE OFIR, JERUSALEM, CIRCA 1985

Arie Ofir (b. Tel Aviv, 1939) became interested in metalwork after a visit to Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, where he eventually studied from 1961-64. From there he spent three years as an apprentice for D.H. Gumble, who brought the Bauhaus influence from Germany to Israel. Having received a scholarship from the Danish Ministry of Education, he was accepted to the workshop of Georg Jensen, where he stayed from 1966-1968. He opened his own studio upon his return to Jerusalem and in 1969 he was appointed lecturer at the gold- and silversmithing department of Bezalel, its head in 1972, which he led for twelve years. He spent nine years at the Holon Institute of Technology, and engaged in numerous academic and artistic endeavors. His achievements include the design of the Commemoration Hall in the Herzelya Air Froce building, and a memorial for Soldiers killed in the Yom Kippur war, which stands in the Peace Forest in Israel. 

His works are in public institutions and private collections, including inclusion or exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Jewish Museum in New York; Spertus Museum, Chicago; Yeshiva University Museum, New York; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem among many others. In 1992 he was awarded the Jesselson Prize for Contemporary Judaica Design by the Israel Museum. He is the author of Yesodot Ha-Ẓorfut ("Basics of Gold and Silversmithing," 1977).