Almaz

Gan Ha'ir Shopping Centre(Lower Level)

About

Meaning "diamond" in Amharic, this store, which sells exquisite Ethiopian handicrafts is a front for a project designed to provide Ethiopian immigrant women with a livelihood. It all began when an Israeli fashion graduate, struck by the beauty of Ethiopian craftwork and the desperate situation of some of the new immigrants, put the two elements together and started Almaz as a non-profit organisation. Today, the Ministry of Labour has stepped in to support the project and the women work from a factory in nearby Lod. Their creations are bright and ethnic, drawing on velvets in rich colours and bright embroidered motifs of figures taken from Ethiopian folklore such as lions, suns and peacocks. There are bags, belts, wall hangings, mezuzahs, kippot, cushions and robes to buy, along with baskets and clay pottery. Israel has some 80,000 Ethiopian immigrants, most of whom arrived in dramatic airlifts in 1984 and 1991.
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