Desy Mei-Dan

Desy has been making newspaper art for more than 15 years, combining art with environmental concerns. Her goal: to make something beautiful and useful out of something that we dispose of without any thought. Newspaper is, in fact, a strong, decorative material, and she weaves strands of newsprint together to create her unique and functional wares. Since many people have old newspapers around that they are trying to get rid of, Desy started to collect the newspaper and perfect her trade of rolling the papers up, weaving them together into handy items, and varnishing them with bright colors. Her neighbors and friends help; they know that Desy makes art with the old newspapers and they come by and give them to her. Desy doesn’t just use any newspaper to make her crafts. Instead, she tries "to only use the good news in my work, so that each piece is filled with good." She continues, "Finding good news printed in the newspapers to use in my art is the hardest part of what I do." She uses only Hebrew language newspapers or international papers that discuss Israel; maps of Israel, pictures from relevant stories, and happy news - when woven together, they all make for happy and unusual crafts.