March 29, 2024
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Linking Northern and Central NJ, Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester and CT

We are all “works in pro­gress,” hopefully always try­ing to grow and expand our horizons. Making aliyah is a growth opportunity, affording people the op­portunity to explore new career paths in the Holy Land. I, for example, had been involved in Manhattan investment sales—primarily of­fice and apartment buildings—for many years. A few years after moving to Israel, I decided it was time for my work to make aliyah too, and I created a real estate firm primarily focused on helping families from overseas fulfill their dream of buying a home in Israel. And I am not alone; numerous friends have changed careers in Israel and are making their mark on society.

Therefore, I wasn’t completely surprised to hear that my interior designer and friend Nathan Zussman recently opened a furniture showroom in Beit Shemesh called “Interiors,” which showcases top U.S. furniture makers.

Off I hiked to Nathan’s attractive new show­room to find out why he decided to open up a furniture store.

GB: What’s the motivation for this big move?

NZ: I have a passion for beautiful furniture. I love being around beautiful furniture, I love helping people select it, I like making people’s homes more beautiful. After doing interior de­sign work here for 15 years and being really frustrated by the relatively poor quality, com­fort, and selection offered locally in the high-end sofa market, I finally decided that I should import beautifully designed sofas that are of high quality, relatively affordable, and incredi­bly comfortable.

GB: Why is the furniture that you’re import­ing from the U.S. better than Israel’s domesti­cally manufactured furniture?

NZ: In a few words…quality, comfort, style, and value. All of my upholstered furniture fea­tures either sinuous spring or 8-way hand-tied spring construction—both are industry stand­ards for building a sofa and neither exists in any form here in Israel. The cushions are mostly filled with a variety of feather/down and inner spring pillows. All of this provides not only ex­ceptional quality that can endure many years of wear and tear, but also allows for an unparal­leled degree of comfort and quality.

I also offer literally thousands of fabric sam­ples in patterns that you won’t find anywhere else in this country. One fabric that I am par­ticularly excited to introduce to the Israeli mar­ket is called “Sunbrella.” This material was orig­inally created for outdoor use but has been redesigned for indoor use, offering fabulous patterns and colors, and fabrics that are soft to the touch. These fabrics can weather heavy exposure to the sun and can even be cleaned with a compound that includes bleach—mak­ing them extremely child friendly.

GB: How do your prices compare with fur­niture prices in the U.S.?

NZ: The prices that I can offer here in Israel are comparable to the 40% discount that peo­ple in the States can get buying the same furni­ture on the internet—except that I also have to charge 18% VAT [local “value added tax”] and pass on some of the shipping charges.

GB: What’s your vision?

NZ: I really want people in Israel to have nice furniture, but I ideologically refuse to over­charge customers. I am thrilled that with this showroom, I can help people buy beautiful top-quality sofas at reasonable prices.

Nathan Zussman has exquisite taste and is a big mensch. I wish him all the success in the world.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency fo­cused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market up­dates, you may contact him at [email protected]. е

By Gedaliah Borvick

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