Jury-GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN / Published on December 28, 2020
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Avi Tenzer
Creative Director
Tenzer inc.
Israel – Montréal, Québec, Canada
PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE – PEOPLE OF DESIGN VERSION!
What prescient youthful memory relates to your present career?
Designing my mother’s dress, shoes & handbag when I was 11 years old for my brother’s Bar Mitzvah was pretty meaningful and prescient!
What are three basic rules you learned from your mentors?
1. Be true to yourself
2. Dare
3. Take risks
What project launched your career?
Designing an evening gown for American President Jimmy Carter’s wife while they visited Israel in 1979 was a major life-changing project that launched my career.
Roselynn Carter, 1977, White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Any music playing while you work?
Depending on my mood, depending on which collection I’m working on, I’ll go from classical to alternative, electronic, hip hop, rap, classic rock, punk and more!
Do you work in PJs or three-piece suits?
Working from my home office these days, I choose do to so in my boxers!
What is your current design state of mind?
To stay home and be computable… I design street wear with an urban twist in clothing, handbags, accessories and more.
Creating the fantasy… the edgy, the cool, the fun!
What living designer/architect do you most admire?
I like Miuccia, for Prada. A vintage reference vintage. Retro with the most modern shapes and the most advanced tech materials.
Photography by Brigitte Lacombe
I also like JPG, not only because he inspired me from 1979 and since, but also because he reminds me of myself as a person. I met him several times here in Montréal and in Paris.
Photography by James bort factory, http:// www.jamesbort.com/2015/04/jean-paul- gaultier-friends/
New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Al Ravenna, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
What is your most marked design quality?
To design a full collection of clothes, shoes , handbags & accessories. My aim for perfection, my design sense and attention to technical aspects and quality.
How would you like your designs to go down in history?
I would like to have some of my signature styles showcased in museums, which I partly achieved when I was selected amongst the 12 most important Jewish designers in the world, to design a fantasy dress for the Jewish People Museum in Israel, joining Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Marc Jacob, Michael Kors, Albert Elbaz and more.
What peer quality do you most value?
Designers with a soul…
Which project is the epitome of your work?
The fantasy dress designed for the Jewish People Museum…
This is the dress I designed for the Jewish People Museum in Israel when I was selected , one of the 12 Montreal st important Jewish Designer in the world among , Ralph Loren , Donna Karan , Micheal Kors , Mark Jacob , Albert Elbaz , Sonia Riekel , ect
It was design in 2014
Was shown in Israel and NY
How are your country of belonging’s values reflected in your work?
I am lucky to call both Canada and Israel home. Born in Israel, my DNA is Polish, Egyptian, Israeli & Ukrainian… I bring all these cultures & my roots to my design.
What always inspires you?
Music, people, art, books…
If a spell were to transform you into an object for eternity, by all means, what would you like to be and why?
A rocket that could travel around the world and visit new planets, new places… at the speed of light!
What is your favorite place in the world?
It would have to be a beach… Tel Aviv, St Martens, Ibiza, Mykonos… I feel free , I feel inspired, I dream while at a beach. Looking at the waves or swimming, I feel alive. My astrological sign is Pisces, I guess I’m a mere fish in the sea!
What design or architecture project do you wish you would have thought of yourself?
The Louvre’s pyramid. In many people’s minds, it does not fit within its space. To me, the old palace and the modern pyramid are a perfect mix, a way to keep the space interesting and evolving over time.
If you could host any three guests, past or alive, over for dinner, who would you choose and what would you dare serving?
The Doors’ Jim Morrison, the great David Bowie and Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten…Music and musicians truly inspire me!
I’d serve them my mother’s Egyptian cuisine.
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| Elektra Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons | Roger Woolman, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons | http://www.shelleyannphotography.com Shell Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
