Course General Description

Over the course of four years of study at the Industrial Design Department, we create a field of activity and experimentation that examines the world of design. The students start forming a new body of knowledge from the very first day of their studies. At the outset, the students learn and assimilate the various professional, cultural and historic foundations they require so that in the coming years they may explore, create, experience and express themselves through the design of products that have a substantial effect on our way of life. Industrial design, as it has been taught at the Bezalel Academy in the last 35 years, evolved out of an approach of identifying and specifying the problem, developing a scenario and striving for an accurate solution while using physical and academic tools. In the last decade, we have seen the field evolving and witnessed the emergence of directions and sub-directions from and within it: from creative designers touching the world of craftsmanship to designers engaged in the exploration of the field of design and in self exploration, from designers seeking answers to those wishing to raise questions as a final product. The margins are a fascinating territory and the place of evolutionary storms, and they exist at the Department through a powerful synergetic combination with the professional hard core of traditional product design. The projects the students create emerge from exploration and emotion and come to conclusion as the physical implementation of the students' personal fields of interest.

School General Description

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is an academic college of design and art located in Jerusalem, Israel. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education. It is named for the Biblical figure Bezalel, son of Uri (Hebrew: בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן־אוּרִי), who was appointed by Moses to oversee the design and construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:30). The art created by Bezalel's students and professors in the early 1900s is considered the springboard for Israeli visual arts in the 20th century. Bezalel is currently located at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the exception of the Architecture department, which is housed in the historic Bezalel building in downtown Jerusalem. In 2009 it was announced that Bezalel will be relocated to a new campus in the Russian Compound, as part of a municipal plan to revive Jerusalem's downtown. The new Bezalel campus is planned by the Tokyo-based award-winning architectural firm SANAA.