My Fifteen Minutes
How's this for an ending to this crazy week: my beads and I are featured in an article in this week's 'Ma'ariv Sofshavua', in newsstands (in Israel) tomorrow. 'Ma'ariv' is one of Israel's largest daily newspapers, and 'Sofshavua' is a popular weekend supplement. This wasn't supposed to happen for a couple of months, but here it is!
The article is by Yoni Shadmi, photos by Kobi Kalmanovitz (bead photos by yours truly, of course).
It's a double-spread, and here's what it looks like:
If you read Hebrew, or just want to peek at the other pages, here are links to some scans:
The cover
Being on the cover with Uri Geller and George Clooney is very, very surreal : )
The article
like the image above, but larger.
Readable text 1
Readable text 2
Readable text 3
And since I love you guys - I spent the afternoon translating excerpts from the article to English.
Enjoy, and please note the "disclaimers" below.
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Charuzina
(Translates literally to ‘Beadina’ – a play on the word Tapuzina which is a cross between an orange and a tangerine, or was it some other citrus fruit?)
Sarah Hornik, a respected web designer, has reinvented herself as a glass bead artist. Now, with a monthly income of thousands of dollars and a loyal client database, she is a role model for a growing community of Israelis who make a living through eBay. On the way, she got rid of the need to meet with people.
Sarah Hornik is confined by choice to her little castle on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv. Over the past few years, she has almost stopped leaving the house. She is a bit tired of people, and she doesn’t need to go to work any more: what started as a hobby – creating colorful glass beads – became a business with an income of over $4000 a month, through online sales. Hornik creates the beads in a little space in the first floor of her home: peculiar glass balls with new-age names like “Music in Blue” and “Twilight Glow”. With the beads up for sale on eBay, women from Europe and the United States battle over them with bids that go higher and higher.
Sarah, 30, is the shy prophet of a new generation of self-employment. She owns an international business with a fantastic profit rate, working exclusively through the internet. Yes, there are other people who succeed in completing their income online (see frame), but Sarah has built a real business, thanks to the online user-content revolution, the one that is sometimes referred to as ‘Web 2.0’. She quit her hated but lucrative job as the owner of a graphics studio, and today she wakes up in the afternoon, works for a few hours and then goes up to the second floor of her spacious home, to think her own thoughts in front of the wonderful panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea, that peeks at her through a window the size of an entire wall. She also runs a blog and a personal website, and uploads photos to Flickr, the photo-sharing site - because the most important thing she has discovered, is that as the brand name “Sarah Hornik” (which is not identical to Hornik herself) grows, her clients become more loyal and enthusiastic.
And thanks to a table from Ikea
Hornik discovered the internet shortly after her military service, where she served as a “coffee machine”, by her own definition, in the artillery force. “At that second, I knew what I wanted to do with my life”, she describes the night when she first sat before the web at a friend’s house. “I was going to be a web designer”. She began working for minimum wage at “Walla!”, and within two years became the studio manager of the website, which was the most popular site in Israel at the time. When the hi-tech bubble burst, and the reward for outstanding employees changed from trips abroad and victory parties on the top floor of Azrieli Towers to a piece of cardboard shaped like an Oscar, Sarah decided to leave. Quitting a job at a technology company by choice was a rare event at the time, and her friends tried to convince her to hold on to her steady salary. But Sarah read the map correctly: the wounded hi-tech market was thirsty for freelance designers who were willing to cut prices. She became self-employed, and prospered. Samsung, ICQ and Issta, as well as Svika Pick and Aviv Geffen paid her decent amounts of money to design their websites.
How does all this relate to beads? Quite by chance, actually. Sarah’s financial success brought her to move to a larger apartment – where, for the first time in her life, she bought all the furniture herself. Proud and happy with her new nest, she placed a large glass table, divided into drawers, in her living room. While looking for something to fill up the drawers with, she ran into a bag of old marbles at a toy store, priced at 5 shekels. She was charmed by the colors and variety: “I was obsessed”, she says. After two weeks of meticulous searching, she found a six-lesson course for making glass beads, and discovered she preferred to sit at the small torch she bought, emptying her mind from thoughts and turning the glass into golden liquid - over arguing with advertising people and adjusting animations for brand-name websites.
She continued working, of course – you need to make a living, and the beads were just an esoteric hobby, something you turn to when life becomes too loud. But the pressure did not cease, and when she found herself praying that the office phone would stop ringing, Sarah understood that she hated her job. In the beginning of 2006, she closed down her studio, “Z-kit”, and began working at home with fewer clients. In an attempt to reduce the work overload and to complete her income, she decided to try selling some of the glass beads she had designed. Hornik offered five beads for sale on eBay, at starting prices of $30 each. A few days later, the beads were purchased by buyers overseas, at a price range of $35-40.
And that, more or less, is how things were summed up. With another round of objections going on in the background - from all her acquaintances, who saw her, once again, throw out a lucrative and respected job in favor of heating pieces of glass and selling them online - Sarah closed down her design business for good and became a full-time beadmaker. But a job like this one was quite different from a hi-tech job: even last month, when Sarah’s bead export crossed the $6000 range due to Christmas shopping fever, she rarely worked more than five or six hours a day. Her business manages to overcome even the whims of the Israeli market, and even during the last war in Lebanon, the demand for her beads remained steady.
My life as an online brand
One of the keys to Sarah Hornik’s success is the development of her virtual image. A curious buyer who looks up her name in Google will find her website and blog, as well as texts and photos she posts on various community websites. The result is a solid brand identity, reliable and empathetic, which you can identify with and even love: a bit of an eccentric artist, with a good sense of humor and Olympic attention to detail. For many buyers, women like Sarah provide the experience that a large corporation, backed by an advertising firm, can never give.
“Since my first sale on eBay, it was obvious to me that a large part of the brand is related to my personality, and that there is commercial logic to developing that personality”, says Hornik. “Glass by Sarah” must transmit a very specific message. What advertising people in the country refuse to understand, is that online advertising is based on content. Give people something to read – something authentic, at least to a certain extent – and they will show much more interest in your product than if you show them an annoying flashing banner that states “my product is the best in the world!”
This attitude towards building a brand covers all Hornik’s work online. The blog, the eBay auctions, the online shop, they all speak the same language: “a calm tone, with a smile, but with no ‘force’. A wink here and there, short texts, small touches from my own life. Sometimes, descriptions of merchandise being sold on eBay are influenced by blog culture - someone will sell a bead and describe what she ate for breakfast. That is irrelevant. I write about the creation process, but clearly and concisely, a line or two. The design language of the website is also relaxed: neutral colors and a very clean and simple layout. There is something that I consciously try to transmit, something personal, prestigious and also exotic – Tel Aviv, isn’t that somewhere in the Middle East? When someone purchases a bead from me, they are not buying just a bead, but a work of art, and a piece of the artist and who the artist is – that is a major issue.”
And that is the entire story, in a nutshell. “When I sell a bead, I can say ‘here is a blue and green bead with a flower’, or I can say ‘I had a dream last night about such and such, and inspired by that dream, I created this bead, “Winter Illusions”. The bead from the dream will sell much faster. My personality is what sets me apart”. Sarah receives hundreds of e-mails each week, and maintains a steady and mutual relationship with some of her buyers. Last week she wrote in her blog that she was sick and not in the mood to do anything, and many concerned buyers/friends sent her get well wishes.
I stay at home
This success came to Hornik at the right time, when she felt like she could no longer stand the arrogance and stubborn ignorance of her web design clients. There was also another factor at work. Over the past few years, a feeling that was rooted inside her from childhood, more or less, began to grow – that people are not fundamentally good, or that they are, but reality makes them bad. Her business allowed her to fulfill an old dream, deeper than the bead dream: to distance herself from human contact. If you don’t count the quick trips to the post office to send beads to the other side of the world, Hornik leaves her home once or twice a month, and is usually not too happy about that. She doesn’t like talking on the phone either, and prefers to communicate through instant messaging or e-mail.
All her friends are already used to her unique way of connecting with the world, and she rarely speaks to her parents. The relationship was never a good one, and it finally exploded when her mother refused, a decade ago, to help her fund studies at “Bezalel” (Hornik was forced to give up on the idea of a higher education and went to work at “Walla!”). There might be an explanation for her voluntary confinement in a story related to her old blog. Hornik had a very personal and open blog, even in the exhibitionist standards of the Israeli web. She deleted it after a strange malfunction exposed her identity, at least to her close acquaintances. Although the deleted blog can be partially recovered, there is something unfair about holding a person responsible for every idle thought that goes through their mind about their family, friends and life, so we will leave it at that. We will make do with the explanations that she herself provides for the shake her life went through: “Most of the time, I don’t sit around thinking about the mechanism that changes my life”, she says. “It isn’t like ‘Hi, I am Sarah from Web 2.0’. I don’t owe anyone an explanation; I don’t have a partner or children. Going out drives me crazy - all those annoying people with their cellphones. It’s not that I don’t like people – I just don’t have a need for them.”
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Notes, Disclaimers, Inaccuracies and Apologies
I feel that a few points in the article were exaggerated, taken out of context or misunderstood, so here are a few clarifications.
- Although I sort of come across here as an agoraphobic sociopath serial killer – I feel the need to clarify that I am not an agoraphobic or a sociopath or anything like that, and I swear I have never killed anyone. I am a proud hermit though. I don’t go out much and I do indeed hate talking on the phone. That’s just who I am, I guess, for better or for worse. I don’t think people are not fundamentally good and I don’t remember ever saying that.
- I was NOT the studio manager at Walla. I was a team leader in the studio for a couple of years and was in charge of a team of 3 people. The studio manager was (and still is, to the best of my knowledge) Ido Eshed, who is one hell of a guy and the best boss anyone could ever have. Sorry about that.
- I did indeed design a website for Aviv Geffen (a popular Israeli rock musician), but was not paid a decent sum of money – or any sum of money at all, for that matter. The site was taken off the air after a couple of months. Long story that happened long ago, and I hope I never have to think about it again.
- I didn’t design websites for Samsung, ICQ or Issta – I did design numerous online advertising campaigns for them though.
- My relationship with my mother (or lack thereof) is another long story, and a complex one at that, and should not have been mentioned in print. Actually, I specifically asked for it not to be, but, well… there you go. Sorry, again.
Nice article, even if it wasn't completely accurate. Not to stereotype, but I think alot of artists are the stay home type.
Cheers
GReg
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Thanks, and thanks for saying that - I feel a little better about it now.
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My dear Sarah, first of all ULTRA-MEGA congratulations to you! You definitely "deserve" all this exposure you've been going through lately. You know why? Because you are a "one of a kind" type of person. This article definitely confirms that my senses keep on working and are still on the right track!
So girl, again, congratulations and let the spot light shine on you for a while... It´s good for you and it´s good for us too!
Hugs, hugs, and more hugs!
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Thanks so much for taking the time to write this, Valerie! I'm so glad you understand whaat I mean. I always say that being alone and being lonely is not the same thing, and it's so good to know that there are other people out there who feel that way. Loving yourself is one of the most important things in life, especially if you are a creative person. And my independence has always been EXTREMELY important to me.
Thank you thank you thank you!
Sarah
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I read my post again and I forgot to mention something really important. In my case, all this me/myself thing happens mostly during the creation process. If after the birth of whatever I'm doing, others are happy with it and like it... FANTASTIC! I feel more than retributed; but my first, and most important, recognition is my own. When I look at the finished whatever I'm doing and I can see a piece or part of myself there. I believe thats another reason for my alone thing. I guess Sarah you feel a bit the same.
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I know what you mean - when I make something that I like, I LOVE being able to show off to the world.
But I guess you already know that.
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Sarah - you are one very switched on young lady!! Many many congratulations to you.
I have always been "different" in as much as I don't seek company and actually like my own time, space, company, which some people find odd - (they just don't understand). I have my own amazing family but outside of that!? I only wish I could emulate (even to a small degree) your amazing success - which is entirely due to your own strength of character and obvious talent - which is huge. You are lucky as well because you have found your niche, something some of us never find.
Well done you!!
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Hi Christine! Thanks so much for understanding. What the rest of the world doesn't understand, is that us weirdos are the best.
Thanks for the compliments, as usual I am very flattered.
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אני דווקא חושב שהם קראו לכתבה "חרוזינה" לא בגלל "תפוזינה", אלא בגלל "בדולינה" - הספר הניו-אייג'י ההוא של גבי ניצן. כנראה שהם ראו דמיון בין המסר שלו (שהבן אדם אדון לגורלו ויכול לעשות את רצונו) לסיפור שלך.
ואגב, עם כל התלונות שלך על הכתבה, מוזר בעיני שלא כתבת מילה על כך שכתוב שם שאת יוצאת מהבית רק פעם או פעמיים בחודש. זה באמת נכון ולא הגזמה?? קשה לי לדמיין דבר כזה...
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ב"תפוזינה" יש יותר אותיות דומות. אבל אין לי מושג, לא קראתי את "בדולינה". אולי אתה צודק. באמת אין הרבה קשר לפירות הדר.
אני באמת טיפוס של בית ולא יוצאת הרבה. הכוונה ב"יוצאת פעם או פעמיים בחודש" הייתה ליציאות חברתיות, ולא לכל השאר, כמו שמשתמע מהכתבה. אני יוצאת החוצה, מסיבה זו או אחרת, לפחות פעם ביום-יומיים.
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Sarah,
I loved the article on you and your work. You continue to progress as an artist; I've had you on my ebay favorite seller list for a long time and the way your beads have evolved is nothing short of amazing. I recently bid on a bead (which I unfortunately lost) which was achingly beautiful. I look forward to each time you post more beads and hope to add one of yours soon to my bead collection. I'm astounded that you have only been making beads since November 2005.
I also want to say that changing careers the way you have done takes a LOT of courage. I really admire that. Most people take the safe path instead of following their hearts. I understand about your wanting to be alone to focus on what you want to do. Most of my hobbies involve doing something solitary. Alone doesn't mean lonesome. I've had some of my most lonely moments when I've been in a crowd. And when I'm alone, I'm not lonely. I can see that you are the same way. I was wondering if you listen to music while you create beads? And would you ever consider leaving your home and giving classes on how to make beads? If so, sign me up! Cheers, Judy
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Thanks so much, Judy. Glad you like the article - and more importantly, the beads, of course! I'm very flattered.
I do listen to music while I work - my torch is noisy, but a few months ago I got an MP3 player and I love it. So now I always work with earphones on, it's a great way to block out the rest of the world and just focus on what I'm doing.
I don't teach - I just don't have it in me. I've tried in the past (teaching English actually, not beadmaking) but it wasn't for me. I don't have the patience it takes - I admire people who do have the patience, though.
Sarah
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היי שרה!
במקרה הגעתי לכאן - אתמול היתה אצלנו חברה שעובדת בזכוכית, קראה סופשבוע, וסיפרה לנו על "הבחורה המוכשרת שעושה חרוזים מדהימים ומלא כסף באי-ביי. קוראים לה שרה הורניק". הלכתי לחפש אותך, את הכתבה, את החרוזים...איזה יופי של עבודה! (את מבריקה, כבר אמרתי לך). איזה יופי של דרך והגשמת משאלות.
גם לנו יש חרוזית מדהימה, שמה אלמה Alma והיא בת 4 חודשים. יש לה עיניים כחולות מדהימות, עור לבן ושיער כהה. היא מלאך (חמסה, חמסה), וכל ההריון והלידה היו חוויה עצומה.
התרגשתי ממך.
גילה
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גילה! וואו! מממממזזזזזללללל טטטטטווווובבבבב! בדיוק שבוע שעבר אני (ועוד איזו וואלאיסטית או שתיים) תהינו מה קורה איתך! שמחה מאוד לשמוע על החרוזית החדשה, ואשמח לפגוש אותה יום אחד - היא אכן נשמעת מדהימה!
תשלחי אי-מייל? (ותמונות בבקשששה?)
sarah.hornik@gmail.com
תודה רבה, אני שמחה שיצא לך להיתקל בכתבה.
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Could the journalist be just a bit envious?...and a poor listener? congrats on your beautiful work...tried to register..."invalid state"...in Canada we have provinces...what should I type?????....Aldona
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Hi Aldona,
Who knows what goes through journalists' minds...
Regarding the state, you can just enter a random one ("NY", for instance) and put you real address in the comments.
Thanks!
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Hi Sarah,
I just found your beads while looking at the latest polymer clay on flickr. I'm stunned at the beauty of your work. And I loved the article. I, too, love "alone time". My friends don't really understand. To me it's almost like getting lost in a movie (to them) when I'm working on clay. I do have the need to be with my girlfriends a couple of times a week but I can spend lots of happy time trying to create! Again, your work is absolutely breathtaking!!!!
Susan
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Hi Susan,
Thanks for understanding! And thanks so much for the compliments.
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הי שרה,
אני דוקא מצאתי אותך דרך הקולקטיב...ולא מעריב (וגם שמעתי עליך מחברה) ואחרי שהגעתי וראיתי את העבודה המיוחדת והמקורית שלך רציתי לומר לך ש:
המעבר שעשית מחיי הסטודיו בוואלה! למקום שאת נמצאת בו היום נשמע לי מדהים, שזה שאת מתפרנסת מזה (ובכבוד רב יש לציין) זה שיחוק אמיתי ויותר מכל, העבודה עצמה, החומר שבחרת, זכוכית, שהוא מדהים לדעתי ומה שאת יוצרת ממנו הוא פשוט נפלא ומעורר השתאות, הדמיון שלך והידיים האלה, שיוצרות בכזו עדינות ודיוק. תבורכי (:
דניה
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אהלן דניה, (דניה של רינת?)
תודה רבה, שמחה שאהבת.
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Hi Sarah,
I would like to say it was very interesting to read about you (got the link from "Konsepzia") and I congratulate you for your bold decisions, I'm a web designer myself so I understand what you've been through.
About the people part I disagree...as designers we feed on our inner world as much as feedback and the people around us, to miss meeting all the interesting people listening to their stories seeing the world outside our small window is a must to every creator that want to evolve, you just need to filter the cellphone sounds in the background.
All the best,
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Hi Sarah,
I would like to say it was very interesting to read about you (got the link from "Konsepzia") and I congratulate you for your bold decisions, I'm a web designer myself so I understand what you've been through.
About the people part I disagree...as designers we feed on our inner world as much as feedback and the people around us, to miss meeting all the interesting people listening to their stories seeing the world outside our small window is a must to every creator that want to evolve, you just need to filter the cellphone sounds in the background.
All the best,
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Hi Yehiel/Raphael,
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the article. But -
1. We all have our own "musts". You don't know me, so you don't know what mine are.
2. If you're going to comment on a post, you might want to read it first.
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Hey Sara. Great publicity despite what you read into it from your perspective. I think you did a great job at the end clearing up those things. I'm not used to reading Israeli newspapers but I know my everytime I try to be a good samaritan and bring one of them home for Guy, he asks me why I wasted my money! So - all in all - it seems like it was great publicity! We're all rooting for you and can admit that we are jealous of your success! But we will all have our own when the time is right. And it's obvious that A LOT of hard, brainy work went into achieving and maintaining yours. Lots of luck and sincere best wishes from this side of the pond.
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Yeah, I guess it was good publicity - not necessarily the necessary kind though. But I'm done complaining about it.
Thanks for the compliments, and I would love to see what Guy is up to!
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שלום שרה
שמחתי, יד המקרה הטוב העליתני לכתבה,כן
מעוניין לפגוש בך,עם גולות הזכוכית לצורך שיתוף/ הרחבת העניין בשיווק ודירוג
תודה מראש
עמירם
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תודה עמירם, אך לא מחפשת שותף כרגע.
(ולא עושה גולות.)
שרה
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