Nachlat Binyamin Arts & Crafts Fair
January 10th 2015
If your idea of a pleasant afternoon is a street festival with oodles of one-of-a-kind art and handcrafted merchandise, the Nachlat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Fair fits the bill precisely.
Operating nearly every Tuesday and Friday since 1987 and located on the paved paths of Nachlat Binyamin Street in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tel Aviv, the Nachlat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Fair is open all year long. Note that the fair closes at dusk in the winter months.
The first and largest open-air craft market in Israel is also one of the most spectacular, and in order to maintain its standards, some special rules apply at Nachlat Binyamin. To ensure that only the highest quality merchandise is available, all artists exhibiting at the fair have to be pre-approved by a screening committee. The committee insists that all items available for sale are original and handmade and that the work must be sold by the artist who created it, which helps to keep the authentic charm here at maximum levels and resellers’ markups away.
On fair days, the area is adorned with over 200 Israeli artists, all exhibiting their handmade arts and crafts, including Judaica, jewelry, clothing, home goods, painted ceramics, unusual toys, lamp shades and other remarkable gifts for tourists to bring to their loved ones back home. New artists join the fair regularly, so there is always something fresh to explore. Be sure to engage a few of the artists in conversation. They are always happy to talk to fair attendees and some will even demonstrate how they create their handcrafted goods.
Enhancing the festive ambiance, street performers, including jugglers, clowns, fortune tellers, musicians, and mimes circulate throughout the artists’ tables, providing live music and plenty of free entertainment. The street performers help make the arts and crafts fair a fun activity for families with children of all ages. Among the artists and street performers are several alternative therapy tents, offering festival goers a shiatsu style mobile massage or reflexology treatment in a private, relaxed therapeutic setting.
A number of cafés with outdoor seating enable visitors to take a quick break from shopping and enjoy a cup of coffee or other light refreshments. Conduct some first-rate people-watching among the thousands of shoppers, including locals from all over Israel and tourists from all over the world. Even if you don’t find anything to buy, there’s still plenty to enjoy at the twice-weekly Nachlat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Fair.
