ENTERTAINMENT

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SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

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rly Lauffer's hands
create art, but it is
Judaism that gives
her weaving and
calligraphy its

meaning.
"Judaism is an integral
part of my work," says Ms.
Lauffer, who works out of a
studio in her Ann Arbor
home. "I see all my work in
relation to Judaism."
Each tallit she weaves,
every challah cover she
makes, and each design she
draws is based on her
knowledge of Jewish

One of Ms. Lauffer's ketubot.

philosophy and mysticism,
which she studied at Hebrew
University.
"A lot of the time you can
express Judaism in the
design," Ms. Lauffer says.
"Sometimes you don't have
to experience it in words."
"Making tallitot is sacred
work," she says. She won't
begin to weave a tallit until
she says a prayer blessing
the garment.
Her calligraphy, which has
Moroccan and Buddhist in-
fluences, gets its main spirit
from Judaism. In creating
the brightly colored designs,
Ms. Lauffer begins with a
Hebrew saying drawn in the

calligraphy used in the
Torah, which becomes the
theme of the work.
• Then staring at the center
of the paper, she looks at it
with her "inner eye" and
begins to draw, Ms. Lauffer
says.
"I have no idea what it will
look like before I start the
design," she says. "It comes
out of myself onto the paper.
I don't know how."
Although she's been work-
ing at her craft for more
than six years, Ms. Lauffer is
still surprised at her artistic
abilities.
Growing up in a tradi-
tional Moroccan home near
Haifa, Ms. Lauffer, 29, never
imagined she would become
an artist.
The only clue she had to
her future occupation came
in high school, she says. She
made a circular design in the
middle of a plate and ended
up selling the piece of art.
Putting the incident aside,
Ms. Lauffer began serving
her two years in the Israeli
army. While in the army,
she made friends with a
Bedouin family. Watching
the Bedouin women weaving
fascinated her.
"I was attracted to the
threads and to the entire
weaving process," she says.
"I became really interested
in the Bedouin weaving. All
the symbols tell a story. A
woman's dress can tell an
entire story."
Her interest in weaving
and fibers grew during the
next two years as she watch-
ed weavers in Turkey,
Greece and India work on
their art form, Ms. Lauffer
says.
Returning to Israel, she
enrolled in Hebrew Univer-
sity and began weaving. She
also met her future husband,
Ann Arbor resident Josh
Lauffer.
It was Josh and the
couple's interest in Judaism
which lead her to
calligraphy.

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Orly Lauffer: All the symbols tell a story.

"We needed a ketubah,"
she says. "We didn't want
anyone else to do it for us."
So Ms. Lauffer began stu-
dying calligraphy and drew
the couple's wedding con-
tract. Not only was it the
beginning of her married
life, but it blossomed into a
second career.
While she continued to
study weaving techniques
and dye making, Ms. Lauffer
started getting commissions
for her calligraphy.
More than four years later,
Ms. Lauffer divides her time
between her loom, her
calligraphy paints and her
family.
In the corner of the

couple's basement, there is a
large loom and a tinier one
for smaller projects. Even
her 5-year-old daughter has
a small loom which she uses
when she's not playing with
her 3-year-old sister.
In addition to tallitot, Ms.
Lauffer does wall hangings.
In the couple's living room is
a large wall hanging done
when she was pregnant with
her first child. The wall
hanging depicts two
separate entities forming
one large circle.
Ms. Lauffer is just beginn-
ing to promote her work. She
sells tallitot, which range
from $90 to $250, and her
other work at art fairs

throughout the Detroit
metropolitan area.
She has begun to make
limited prints of her
calligraphic designs and
plans to try silk screening.
She hopes to eventually sell
her work in Toronto, Los
Angeles and New York.
While she continues to
expand her artistic boun-
daries, Ms. Lauffer isn't
about to choose between her
weaving or her calligraphy.
She plans to continue work-
ing with both art forms.
"One is not fulfilling
without the other," she says.
"They both fulfill my artistic
needs." ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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