Nahalat Binyamin Artists' Fair

Nahalat Binyamin is one of the older streets of Tel Aviv and runs beside the Carmel Market. Twice a week it turns into an open-air fair of handmade work, and the Artists' Fair has run there every Tuesday and Friday since 1988. Around 220 creatives and makers take part, each with a regular pitch. A buyer who hesitates over a piece can return the following week to the same spot. The fair's rule is that all stalls are 100 percent handmade, and the makers sell their own work. Jewellers work in silver and gold as well as beads, gemstones, enamel, polymer clay or leather. Ceramicists bring vases and sculpture alongside serving dishes and Judaica. Glass artists show blown pieces alongside mosaic and stained glass, with wind chimes hanging above. There are painters and photographers along with caricaturists and silk artists, and sculptors work in wood, stone, wire or papier-mache. Textile stalls carry accessories and embroidery. Others sell bags and pieces for children's rooms. The doll makers offer knitted, felted or sculpted figures alongside marionettes and hand puppets. Paper artists bind books and cut paper, while woodworkers turn out puzzles and thinking games. The Judaica ranges across mezuzot, menorahs, challah covers and Passover plates. A 2023 Time Out guide points to glass dinnerware, ceramics, photography and scarves as the things visitors tend to carry home. The fair's own catalogue lists the artists by craft for anyone who wants to find a particular maker again on a later visit.