Ruth Dayan, the ex-wife of the Israeli soldier-statesman Moshe Dayan and the founder of Maskit, a fashion house that expressed her social justice ideals by employing the artisanal traditions of Jewish immigrants and Arabs, died on Feb. 5 at her home in Tel Aviv. In 1948, Ms. Dayan was part of an organization of Israeli women teaching farm skills to new Jewish immigrants. In their ramshackle huts, she noticed the delicate lacework they had brought with them, a traditional craft young Bulgarian women used to make their trousseaus. It gave her the idea that their handiwork might be a better source of revenue than farming. Within weeks she had visited 20 other settlements, meeting Yugoslavian knitters, Syrian weavers, Arab silversmiths and other skilled artisans.

Source: New York Times February 15, 2021 18:00 UTC