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Shmuel Kretchmer, Israeli born Poland, 1894-1972

Shmuel Kretchmer was born in 1894 in the Kovno, a region of Poland. In 1912, after interning in an engraving workshop in Poland, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and began studying at Bezalel. After completing his studies, he opened a metal-design workshop on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem. In 1913-1914 he traveled to Egypt and then to Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after a bout of malaria. With the outbreak of the First World War he was arrested as a foreign national. After his release he was employed in a medal production company for the Austro-Hungarian army. In 1920 he returned to Eretz Israel and reopened his workshop. Between 1929 and 1933 he returned to live in Vienna. In 1933 he immigrated to Palestine once more. In 1943, the name of the workshop, located on Hasolel Street (now Havatzelet), was changed from "Open" to "Kretchmer and Sons." Kretchmer specialized in metalwork using techniques of casting and turning, creating symbols, reliefs and other original designs of his own, or designs of various artists such as Ze'ev Raban, Studio Roly and others. In 1951, the workshop was transferred to the industrial zone of Makor Baruch in Jerusalem, where it was operated by his sons until 2001. A collection of the workshop's works is now on Kibbutz Tse'elim. Kretchmer's workshop specialized in metalwork using techniques of casting and arrogance. His works include a medal for Yitzhak Ben Zvi (1960s)

Education

1912 The Beazlel School of Art and Craft, Jerusalem