Artist Spotlight: Chen Taoz

Chen Taoz completed her industrial design studies at Ort Singalovsky College in 2017 and won the first place in Ort College’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. She opened her studio in 2019, specializing in light fixture design. This year, she launched the Bulbi Lighting collection, which is characterized by figurative soft shapes, colorful, natural finishes, and a sense of joy and peace. Another collection she designed this year – Shiny Lights – was selected for Salone Satellite, Salone Del Mobile, Milan Design Week by 13 international curators. Shiny Lights is a sculptural collection known for its changing display as it reacts to sunlight during the day, and a completely different look with LED light during the night.
*photo on right: Bulbi Table Light Fixture with Chen Taoz by photographer Yaniv Gabay

 

Click above to watch a video about Chen on Vimeo.

 

What was your creative journey that has brought you to where you are today?
Art and design have always  been a passion of mine, and since I was a child, I was painting, sculpting and seeking specific aesthetics in my everyday life. My older brother studied graphic design and that’s how I was exposed to the art and design academic world and started exploring it. I took a variety of classes in art, design, and architecture, and I felt early on that my biggest passion was industrial design. When I founded my studio, I created my first line of products which included light fixtures and decor items. I’m especially attracted to lighting design because I know that lighting has a lot of meaning and impact on people: on how they feel, think, live. It affects all the other designs in the space and how people see and feel them. Light is a kind of material that I design in addition to the tangible materials that I shape and sculpt.

 

Kori Standing Light Fixture by Chen Taoz. Photo by Yaniv Gabay

 

What are you working on now?
Many exhibitions I planned to take part in have been postponed due to the crisis, so I’m looking forward to the re-opening of international art and design events. In the meantime, I show my work at local galleries, and I’m planning a solo exhibition. I am also working on a new lighting collection in collaboration with the weaving artist Ziva Epstein.

 

Bubli Table Light Fxiture by Chen Taoz. Photo by Yaniv Gabay

 

How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your creative life and your relationship to your work?
The crisis has led to the cancellation of many plans, one of them was participating in the most important design event in the world – Salone Del Mobile Milano. There are many challenges right now for visual artists and designers as there is no option to display new works and connect with the audience physically. But I continue working on bespoke lighting for architects and designers, and I continue my creative work with optimism. People love and need art and design especially during this complicated time, when we are spending much more of our day alone at home. I’m here to create for whoever wants to have an optimistic and beautiful atmosphere around them.

 

What do you need as an artist today?
As I continue working and creating, I need people to continue to look for art and to purchase art despite the fact that we can’t interact directly. I believe we shouldn’t let this crisis stop us from enjoying life and creativity.

 

Bulbi Flexible Light Fixture by Chen Taoz. Photo by Yaniv Gabay
Artist Spotlight: Chen Taoz

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