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Bizu Riki Mullu
As a child in Ethiopia, I spent endless hours watching my father, a blacksmith, shape metals into farm tools and decorative jewelry. In Ethiopia most of the Jewish people did handicrafts to make a living because they could not own land. My mother was a midwife and a pottery-maker. My parents never wanted us to do what they did for a living. But, I always watched my father and I always loved it.

This love of art and crafts led me to begin creating my own jewelry and Judaica design. I love art. It’s in my soul. My work reflects both my Ethiopian life and heritage and growing up in Israel.

I arrived in Israel alone at the age of twelve. After I graduated from boarding school, I worked many jobs in the Jewish community. One of the most rewarding was working with young Ethiopians who immigrated to Israel in Operation Moses in 1984. Many of these people arrived in the Jewish state without their families.

When I moved to New York I decided that I didn’t want to work for anyone. I began to design my signature, bold, bright jewelry using Ethiopian silver, bronze, a rich array of natural stones and beads and colorful Judaica items such as brilliantly colored, hand-embroidered tallitot.

I currently split my time between Manhattan and Jerusalem. My parents, 8 siblings and 45 nieces and nephews now live in Jerusalem. I always worried about my family when they were in Ethiopia. They moved to Israel and I said ‘My G-d, they’re free Jews; no more problems, I don’t have to worry about them every day.’ But now I do worry about them every day. My sister and two Ethiopian women, who live in Jerusalem, assist with my work. Because the economy is so bad in Israel it is a blessing to be able to employ Israeli people to help with my work.

I recently formed an organization called Chassida Shmella Ethiopian Jewish Community in North America which seeks to help Ethiopian Jews assimilate into the greater Jewish community in America and keep their connection to Israel.