Friday, May 28, 2010

Galilee Silks Red Black handpainted silk scarf

Galilee Silks fashion was featured in an Etsy Treasury.
Thank you so much BucktoothedBunny

Galilee Silks creates beautiful items and silk clothing and silk in combination with other delicate materials. We also make tallit.


Our silk fashion line brings you fascinating silk clothing items and accessories in irresistible patterns and colors: silk scarves, silk shirts, T-shirts with silk applique, silk skirts, silk sarongs, handbags, silk necklaces and much, much more.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

In the times of harvest in the Holy Land

In our Silk Galilee online shop you'll find many high quality hand painted gifts.

Make your choice from these beautiful hand painted originals printed as appliques which picture flowers and fruit from the Holy Land with their own Bible quote.

The matching shoulder bag and delicate chiffon scarf in various pastel colors make thisunique set a beautiful spiritual addition to your ward robe and gift for your loved ones.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Lovely Holy Land Gifts



New in our Silk Galilee online shop are lovely gifts from The Holy Land.
Recently added: Holy Land and Bible themed art prints and magnets, Songbooks and music CD's.
Now adding Wonderful hand crafted items from genuine native olive wood.
Come visit this Galilee Silks Gift shop we are adding new products all the time!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

More Google Products


Thia is nice taking all blog images and insert the Picasa slideshow back in a blog post!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The Silk Road of Galilee Silks for unique Judaica & Silk Fashion Creations




Some background history about Galilee Silks

The Silk Road

Gili Matza (Lempel)

From an article in the At women’s magazine, Israel

In two crowded rooms with decaying ceilings that let in the rain in winter at Kibbutz Beit Haemek in Western Galilee, fifteen women work at Formica-topped tables on patterns of women’s silk clothing. But this scene is deceptive. These two less-than-glamorous rooms house a successful enterprise with an annual sales turnover of NIS 2,000,000 and which exports to the United States, Norway, Holland and England, and one of its products is even owned by a member of the Norwegian royal family.

Galilee Silks, the only silk clothing factory in Israel, is not only a profitable branch of the kibbutz but also a valued ambassador of Israeli applied art. The factory is the life work of one woman, Shlomit Azati, who without the help of PR and celebrity-ridden fashion shows but with daring and resolve and the diligence of an industrious silkworm, established a creative enterprise. She was recently awarded a certificate of merit by the Kibbutz Movement Department for the Advancement of Women. One of seven recipients of the framed certificate at a noontime ceremony accompanied by orange juice and marble cake, Azati opened the door of the Galilee Silks factory outlet, a small room reminiscent of a 1960s bra shop. The clothes were arranged on hangers with additional merchandise in drawers and on shelves, so that it took some time to take in the choice in turquoise, maroon and green, which aroused the urge to finger them. We enthused over the blouses with butterfly or dolphin appliqué on a black background, table runners and elaborately crafted table linen. The David’s lyre, peace doves, fruits, and Seven Species motifs are aimed at the Reform and Conservative communities that are prepared to spend on raw silk from China. The designs are reminiscent of the work of Maskit, the leading Israeli art chain in the 1970s. After questioning Azati it transpires that she had business dealings with Maskit: “We supplied them with open tops and scarves until they went bankrupt.”

The products are handmade in several stages by immigrant women from the former Soviet Union, women members of the kibbutz, and Arab women from the neighboring villages. In the two abovementioned rooms the silk is hand painted in accordance with the exemplar prepared by designer Hadara Zaks, a graduate of Oranim Academic College. Azati oversees the whole operation that includes a great deal of logistics: ordering the raw material, production, marketing, deliveries and payment collection. Approximately two thirds of the factory’s sales, which was established in 1992, come from export to American Jewish communities and stores in Norway, Holland and the UK. The New York Jewish Museum has challah covers and tallitot made at the Galilean factory. The enterprise is gaining a reputation in Israel too: the factory made 1,500 ties for Bank Leumi, 800 matza covers for Israel Military Industries and 700 orange-colored scarves for Mizrahi Bank. The Israel Museum is also a customer, and recently, to mark the opening of Ben-Gurion International Airport’s new terminal, 2,400 blue scarves purchased by the Israel Airports Authority were distributed.

Giving From a Happy Place

Azati, 51, is a former nurse who ran the kibbutz clinic. Exactly ten years ago her mother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away six months later. “As an only child the need to cope with my mother’s illness intensified my lust for life and the need for moral stocktaking,” she says. “I was filled with mental strength that drove me to seek a dramatic change. My mother’s decline and passing made me realize that I didn’t want to work with sickness any longer. I wanted to give from a happier, more creative and artistic place.

“Together with my work in the clinic and visiting my mother in hospital, I traveled to Tel Aviv every week where I attended Batya Uziel’s handicrafts class. I was attracted to the softness and beauty of silk and began making brooches and earrings, which are in stock to this day. I went to stores and bazaars by bus, carrying a huge backpack. I had four children and viewed silk as the fifth. The living room of my apartment, which is only 66 square meters in area and is home to six people, became my studio and I kept the boxes under the couch. After long and grueling negotiation, I was allocated NIS 200 to buy raw material. At first I worked on a voluntary basis. When the kibbutz economic coordinator showed me a survey showing that all the small kibbutz businesses based on art had failed, his message was clear.”

When did you realize that you were on the way to a business?

“A woman who did embroidery and had this vision of a building that would house art workshops in various spheres, pushed me into sharing a room with her. Some time later she left the scene, the room became two, and that’s where the factory is today. I gradually brought in other women kibbutz members who were looking for a place to work. While I was sitting shiva for my mother I received an order for 300 scarves from the Gras chain, so together with my deep bereavement a reason to continue creating was born, along with the ability to make a living.”

Where do the business acumen and the motivation to make money in a communal society come from?

“Back when there really was equality in the kibbutz, it wasn’t clear to me where it came from. When I was in the Noar HaOved youth movement I was the treasurer, I loved calculating and organizing. I took various courses on business entrepreneurship. If you’re asking me to delve really deeply, it could be that the motivation stemmed from the need to be meaningful and make my dream come true.”

But time did its work and the credits gradually mounted up. A member of the Norwegian royal family bought a tunic through a sales representative in Oslo; the commanding officer of the Indian Artillery Corps, who was in Israel on an official visit, also became a customer. “He bought a howitzer from the Ministry of Defense and a scarf for his wife from us. He came along and homed in on a small scarf,” Azati relates.

An Existential Crisis

Azati’s most complex challenge came with the outbreak of the second intifada, when she had to let half of her workforce go. “In October tourism dried up, which included the pilgrims on which our business was based. All at once everything fell apart. Souvenir shops, which were our main customers, either closed down or returned merchandise, I was left with big stocks and 20 employees I didn’t have the money to pay. I was in an existential crisis. I took out a loan from the kibbutz and at the same time presented it with a recovery plan. I was forced to send people home, people who found it hard to find alternative work.”

How do you live with a decision like that?

“I didn’t sleep at night and the days were dark with distress. Some of the women I had to let go were kibbutz members I see every day in the dining room. I took it personally.”

How long did it take to get your head back above water?

“I began looking for new markets. By chance the opportunity of attending a gift exhibition in New York, the biggest of its kind in the world, presented itself. Within a week our designer Hadara developed a line of modern tallitot for women, men and bar-mitzvah children. I took a stock of 20 tallitot with me. I didn’t have an official stand, so I went to a bathroom accessory store and bought hangers and rails, which proved to be a successful improvisation. I came back from the exhibition with 10,000 dollars worth of orders. Within a year we developed a line of Judaica products, including some magnificent wedding canopies that were an upgrade of the tallitot. Since then, I’ve been going to New York regularly to show our merchandise at the exhibition.”

Who helped you with export?

“I tried to forge export ties with every volunteer that came to the kibbutz, and it was through one such person that we got to Norway. We got to Holland, for instance, through a relative of a kibbutz member who established contact for us with the leading catalog company for Israeli products. The Fund for the
Promotion of Overseas Marketing, the Israel Export Institute and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor all helped me in my fight to convince the kibbutz economic committee that I needed help in exporting. An entire delegation from the Export Institute came to the kibbutz to persuade them that the factory had potential.”

But the difficulties weren’t over and Azati was hit by a further crisis. “About three years ago the entire collection ordered by the Dutch catalog company, valued at NIS 60,000, was stolen. I reported the theft to the police and informed the client that we would be unable to meet their order. Fortunately, half of the stolen merchandise was found in a market in Ramla.”

Why is it that people in this country aren’t familiar with your merchandise?

Because it’s too expensive for the local market. It costs 200-300 dollars per item of clothing or tallit, and 500 dollars for a wedding canopy. They’re unsuitable for women looking for form-fitting clothes. Silk is a flowing material that’s more suitable for relatively fuller figures, with which women of 40-plus can connect.”

To see the Galilee Silks selection, go to www.galileesilks.com, www.galileesilkjudaica.com , www.galileesilkfashion.com take a trip to the Galilee.

Silk Jerusalem Scarves, Handpainted Prayer shawls by Galilee Silks, Israel from the Holy Land with online Gift Shop



Silk Jerusalem Scarves, Handpainted Prayer shawls by Galilee Silks, Israel from the Holy Land with online Gift Shop

Galilee Silks creates beautiful items and garments from silk and silk in combination with other decorative fabrics for special shine and touch to holidays and events.


Galilee Silks Holy Land prayer shawls carry symbolic names from the Bible: The Heavens, River of Life, Lion of Judah, Kingdom of God, Holiness, and Spirit of Fire.
Galilee Silks finest quality T-shirts are decorated with symbols from the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Biblical themes.
Our collection of silk scarves radiate the vibrant colors and spirituality of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Now we can offer our creations through Galilee Silks online store. Just click the "Online Store" link for the menu or the "Buy Now" button besides or below the products and you will be taken right there.

NEW in our Shop:Lovely Hand Painted Pure Silk Scarflette, the perfect gift for the Holiday Season!

Only $9.99!!

Check out the Silk Scarves section!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

New in Silk Galilee Christian Worship flags



In Galilee Silks store specially created to serve our Christian customers:

Christian worship Flags

In our shop you'll find beautiful items and garments from silk and silk in combination with other decorative fabrics which will add special shine and touch to your holidays and events. T-shirts, Scarves and Tote Bags decorated with Flowers and Fruits from the Land of Israel, Christian Worship flags

NOW ON SALE: Galilee Silks Prayer Shawls carrying symbolic names from the Bible: The Heavens, River of Life, Lion of Judah, Kingdom of God, Holiness, and Spirit of Fire.

You'll find the finest quality T-shirts decorated with beautiful Biblical and Land of Israel symbols and a collection of silk scarves radiating the vibrant colors and spirituality of the Holy City of Jerusalem.

If you cannot find what you are looking for: Please visit our our additional online stores with Judaica gifts and handpainted Silk fashion :

http://www.galileesilkjudaica.com/shop/ http://www.galileesilkfashion.com/shop/

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Galilee Silks Scarflette to a soothing purpose

See how Galilee Silks comes in use in the follow up [alternative]treatment of a burned wrist: Just tie a Galilee Silks scarflette around the spot (not on open wounds!!). It feels real soothing and gives a much prettier wrist to look at!
My poor burned wrist under Galilee Silk on Twitpic

Friday, January 29, 2010

New Galilee Silks Movie

Welcome to our new movie! Also on the Galilee Silks Fashion home page you can view our new movie, showing some of our work and living surroundings. Also you'll get to know the faces of the creators of Galilee Silks.
See you there & do not forget to stop by in our shops!


Sunday, January 24, 2010

A silk scarf is still a "must" during winter



A silk scarf is still a "must" fashion statement during the cold winter months.

Wool scarves are important for outdoors -- but indoors is the place for silk during the winter!

Galilee silks has many different silk scarves. Galilee silks has has many different silk scarves in many different colors!

You don't want to get sick during the winter. Yet, you want to look fashionable. Galilee silks will keep you warm and fashionable this winter.

Our website contains all the silk scarves you will need this winter to stay in style. Our silk scarves can also be worn in the spring and summer.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Turtleneck accents for winter


Turtle neck sweaters and sweaters are nice to start the winter cold months. But, as the winter continues -- it's nice to "jazz up" your turtle neck sweater with a necklace.

Silk necklaces from Galilee Silks can add joy to the continuing cold winter months by "spicing up" your wardrobe.

Silk necklaces from www.Galileesilkfashion.com are perfect for the office work week. Gold and silver necklaces can be too fancy for the office. A silk necklace is a perfect fashion accent for the middle of the work week.

Leave your gold or silver necklace for special occasions. Silk necklaces add variation to your necklace collection.

Silk necklaces are perfect for casual weekend parties, too -- jeans, a turtleneck sweater and a silk necklace from http://galileesilkfashion.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=3fb4476df394b68645b666cec67f7582

Silk and silk necklaces remind me of ice skating. Silk is like snow or ice without the cold. Silk reminds me of skating and gliding on ice smoothly. A silk scarf and a silk necklace from http://galileesilkfashion.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=3fb4476df394b68645b666cec67f7582 swooshing on ice is a beautiful sight!

We have lots of other silky fashion items at our website: http://galileesilkfashion.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5&zenid=3fb4476df394b68645b666cec67f7582

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Indoor during the cold months




During the cold winter months we are indoors. We entertain more indoors. Even if it is with our own family.

Keeping winter cheer takes the form of reading a good book. Soup. Feeling snug under the covers and having a good dream.

Keeping winter cheer can also mean adding a fashionable silk item to your wardrobe with http://www.galileesilks.com/. A silk scarf for the office, a silk scarflet accent during the evening home with your family, a silk poncho for a weekend party, a long silk jacket for a special wedding invitation, a silk string necklace that people notice, hand painted silk, or a silk present for someone special.

Silk fashion spices up almost any outfit. Silk fashion spices up almost any occasion -- anniversary, birthday, or wedding.

Spice up your wardrobe with silk from http://galileesilks.com/