She has been one of the most ambitious, energetic, artistic, and creative women I have ever met. She has lived the extraordinary life that she has crafted in her own hands of the type very few have experienced; life filled with art, dazzling homes, collecting, and traveling the world. Art, decorating, and collecting, to her, is a lifestyle. She was born in the ancient town of Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, married an American gentleman at 18, moved to the US, and has split her time between New York and Jaffa for decades. Her New York home is a former seven-story carriage house, which she turned into a showcase of her vision and collections; her home in Jaffa was originally built in the 18th century as a hostel for pilgrims arriving to the Holy Land through the local port. She has turned this enormous stone structure, perhaps Israel’s most beautiful house, into her own personal museum, where art, design, architecture, and lifestyle are merged in the most unexpected way. This building is so indigenous and beautifully restored, utilized as the backdrop for her own art and for her collections of sculptures by Henry Moore; lamps by Ingo Maurer; paintings by Anselm Kiefer and thousands of pieces, selected one by one and brought from Namibia to Poland, from Turkey to Italy, and from every corner on earth. It is one of Israel’s best destinations, visited by Bill Clinton, Issey Miyake, Yitzhak Rabin, the Dalai Lama, Ralph Lauren, heads of states, artists, musicians, and rock stars. Now, when she published a monograph, all of these collections, the passionate life that she has lived, and this extraordinary journey are illuminated and illustrated; the most memorable chapter in this book was written by her husband and partner Lenny Lowengrub. One of the most extraordinary traits of Ilana Goor is the lack of interest in fashions and trends; her aesthetic and artistic creativity are dynamic, pure, and original, come from within, and reflect her own personality and identity. And if you ask how do I know all of this, it is because she is one of my best friends.
