Samy D.

Samy D. was born in 1968 in France

Samy D. was born in Marseille, France, in 1968, under the name Shmuel David Cohen. His mother was Gila Arkin, and his biological father was Georges-Edouard de Cazalet, a race car driver from a French banking family. After the death of Albert Cohen in 1988, he learned that Cohen was not his biological father, and his sister also died that year.

In the army he served in the Military Police and later at Maarachot, the IDF publishing house. After his discharge he studied dance with the Bat-Dor company but chose not to pursue a dance career. He then studied industrial and interior design at the Holon Institute of Technology.

His studio is in the Neve Zedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He works with Limoges porcelain, gold decoration, sometimes 14 carat gold, and draws on kitsch in his designs. He has made dishware for companies, including a set for the El Al first-class cabin, and a series etched with tiny text from the Book of Genesis.

His work has been shown at the Haifa Museum of Art, the Eretz Israel Museum and SOFA Chicago. In 2009 he won first prize at the Alix de Rothschild Crafts Awards. His pieces are held in collections such as the Rudin Collection in New York and the Ran Rahav Collection in Tel Aviv.