Friday, January 4, 2008


If you've ever been to Israel and visited Tel Aviv, you might have noticed our country's "national sport," known by the locals as matcot. It's a high-pace game, played-fast-and-furious-like, usually by middle-aged men in their underwear. On weekends the pok-pok-pok sound of the back and forth of the ball, drown out the surf, and frighten passers-by trying to dodge getting hit.

Making matcot a little more modern, is Groovy - a pair of Tel Aviv industrial designers, who like to rethink and repurpose everyday objects and designs. Take the above chair, its sawed out matcot paddles, and tiny ball holder in the top left-hand corner.

Says Groovy’s website: “There is nothing like the combination of words 'retro' and 'active' to describe the activities of Danit and Yinnon Simhi.

“These young designers turn their years of collecting into a real profession using their artistic talent and their imagination to bring old and new things to life. Most of the new products designed and manufactured by Groovy, and infused with humor, and are realized as surprising new designs and images.”

Let's hope they are starting a trend. Too many people are heading to bix box shops, like IKEA, in Israel.

TreeHugger related: Lock Cup from Israel

::Green Prophet

::Groovy

5 comments:

Liz Steiner said...

So do these middle aged men in underwear grunt like tennis players when they hit the ball? Because that would really complete the whole package.

amyk said...

grunting is optional

Rebecca Dortzbach said...

tagged you too amy. nice job keeping up on blogging

Liz Steiner said...

"Grunting is optional." I think that just might be my new motto. . .

Laserchina said...

co2 flying laser marking machines a laser with very high energy density gathered on the surface of the object to be marked