Signature goat cheese series that combine 
traditional Yemenite embroidery patterns

As part as "The Matchmaker" project, for Jerusalem Design Week 2021
The project has been generated in the magical Yemenite Valley in Ein Karem, where the Giat family’s goat farm is located. The family’s origins are in Yemen, and after immigrating to Israel where they settled in Ein Karem and raised goats for a living.
Efrat, the wife of Zion Giat, a native from Ein Karem,  is a tour guide, shepherd and cheesemaker. She raises a herd of 11 goats, milking them, producing cheese, and making jam from the surrounding mountain fruits. In addition, she conducts workshops revealing her unique way of life.​​​​​​​
Efrat and I met each other through the “Matchmaker” project, during which I took the goats out to pasture, milked, made cheese, gathered, and, mainly, absorbed the shared experience.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Along with the wish to preserve the authenticity and simplicity of Efrat’s products, arose the desire to distinguish them and create a series of signature cheeses representing the local terroir in two ways: First, through connection to the Ein Karem creative environment as well as local raw materials. Second, through connection to Yemenite roots and tradition – mainly the Yemenite embroidery, the Giat family dealt in.
Tatriz el-Halib presents a material and cultural encounter between traditional cheesemaking and the personal story of the Giat family. The cheeses form a hybrid of rooted and local – combining on the one hand local raw materials such as fruit preserves and herbs as coloring and culinary textures, and on the other hand Yemenite archetypes and traditional samples of Yemenite
Design process
Paprika patterns
Photos of Nadra Giat making and wearing Yemenite embroidery
Family traditional Yemenite embroidery 
Cheese making process
Photography credits
Oded Antman, Keren Rosenberg, Dan Peretz

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