Suzanne Dekel, an internationally recognized expert on artisanal dyeing, creates the most vibrant of hues from the most natural of sources

“This is something I could do forever,” says Suzanne Dekel, an artist whose journey took her through different countries, lifestyles, and professions before she settled into her current passion, the craft and business of dyeing natural fabrics with organic dyes she produces herself.

Now in her mid-forties, Suzanne has become a recognized expert on the process, sought out by art and textile students, and the author of numerous guides to the craft. In addition to producing her striking fabrics, she gives workshops all over the world.

Suzanne speaks to me from her house in Shoham, where she lives with her husband, their four children, and a puppy. The choice of Shoham was siyata d’Shmaya, she says; a friend happened to mention the house to her, and it was in an affordable community with shomer Shabbos families. She rented a workspace nearby when it became clear her business had outgrown her kitchen.

But so much in her life has come about through siyata d’Shmaya, and now, from her kitchen table, she fills me in.

Not the Typical

Suzanne is extremely articulate, yet English — which she speaks with barely any accent — is not her first language. She was born in Amersfoort, Holland, a small town about 45 minutes from Amsterdam.

Her parents aren’t Jewish, but from an early age Suzanne felt attracted to Jews and Judaism. The more she heard about Jews and Jewish traditions, the more she ached to be part of them. Once, on a trip to Switzerland, she saw a group of Jews walking and felt a huge longing to join their group. But she had no idea how to pursue it. Finally, a friend tossed out, “Why don’t you call a synagogue?”

It was a solution so obvious she’d missed it. She called a synagogue and asked if she could visit. “They didn’t say no, but they didn’t exactly say yes either,” she says with a small smile. But she was undaunted. Even though she felt like a baby who didn’t yet know how to walk in this new world, she absorbed as much as she could within the parameters of her Dutch existence.

Almost 30 years ago, in her early twenties, Suzanne moved to Israel and never looked back, knowing it was part of the process necessary to attain her goal. “I nosedived into everything,” she says. “I learned in Machon Meir for a long time, and converted 28 years ago.

“My father didn’t mind that I’d chosen this. My mother went with the flow and did her best to accommodate me, because her top priority was to maintain our relationship. She keeps a box of kosher utensils in her house for my visits, and since the war started, she’s been lighting candles every Friday night.”

As a young adult, Suzanne’s life was centered around music. She studied classical guitar at the Academy of Music and Dance in Rotterdam and the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She continued in Israel at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, earning her master’s degree and then working as a professional musician, giving concerts and lectures, and teaching.

She specialized in music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. “I excelled in it, and it connected the best to my being,” she says. “It’s passionate, but it’s also calculated and rule-abiding. I’m a broad-minded, Renaissance-type person in my thinking, the type who likes to discover new things and dive deep into them. Even today, the colors I connect to most in my dyeing are the kinds of deep, saturated hues you see in paintings from that period.”

Eventually, she let music slip out of her life. “I don’t even play for fun anymore,” she confesses. But she has no regrets. She believes the skills she developed as a musician — discipline, self-motivation, and research skills — continue to serve her well as she pursues different paths.