“ I’m from Israel originally, not France like a lot of people think. I guess it’s the accent! I grew up in a Kibbutz. If you don’t know what a kibbutz is, it’s sort of like a commune or a village but the ideology behind it is quite social. People don’t have a lot of personal possessions. It’s about having joint finances, joint social life. People work at different jobs in or out of the Kibbutz but they don’t actually get paid for what they do. All the money goes into a joint finance pool I suppose you say. Everyone gets the same allowance. It doesn’t matter if you are the manager or if you are doing the garbage. Everyone is equal. It’s a great idea but it takes a lot of effort to make it work. There’s always the risk of people taking advantage but our kibbutz is still very much functioning. It’s one of the last ones.
My kibbutz was near the border of Lebanon and that’s where I grew up. After three years of army service which is compulsory I was 19. I finished in 2002. I left Israel and travelled in India, Nepal and Thailand and then I came to Australia. First to Perth to work with a friend on a holiday visa. I continued my travels after that and then I got over the whole travelling thing. I was tired. I have travelled with my guitar which I learned to play during my army service. I always wanted to travel with my guitar. I wanted to learn more and understand music more so when I came to Australia I started looking for options to study or do a course. I wasn’t thinking degrees but I wanted to learn more. I ended up travelling up to the Northern Territory, across the desert to Townsville and back down to Byron.. I heard about the Con here in Lismore so I took a trip here and they accepted me. Compared to all the other Conservatoriums it was affordable. That was in 2007 and I stayed here. I did 3 years at the Con, my Cert 3, my Diploma and an Advanced Diploma and I met my partner, Naomi. I decided I wanted to finish my degree so I went to uni and finished. I started in guitar but ended up majoring in production. I played in bands, I did an Ep of electronic music of my own and here I am in Lismore. We have a baby now. Her name is Nieve, she’s just turned 3 months.
I found it hard to get work at first but then started at Fire in the Belly. I dropped in every week and was persistent till I probably annoyed them so much, they hired me. I ended up there for 5 years. I had a cheap Espresso machine at home and I played on that, I took a couple of courses, read a lot, experimented, asked Baristas questions and loved it. I scored a one day a week position at The Alstonville Garden House and luckily they had the same coffee machine as Fire in the Belly so I felt confident. I ended up there for 2 years and realised I loved working with coffee. I found a full time position at The Bean Bag which was fun. I got into roasting and ended up head Barista and Floor Manager. I actually competed in The Australian Regional Latte Championships and came second which was a bit exciting. I just entered for the experience really and now I have this trophy which is kind of cool. Next year I might get to Melbourne to enter the National. That would be fun!
Long story but ended up wanting my own place. I had met Pete and Busara who had Cafe 114 when they had Alphadale, we got to chatting, they wanted to sell and I wanted to buy. They just hadn’t made the final decision to sell. After a time I came back to Lismore and Naomi was pregnant so I started working for Tony at Cappellos. I got a call from Pete saying they had decided they were selling 114. I felt bad as I had just started at Cappellos but Tony and Tameya were amazing, so supportive from day one. They offered help and business advice and I am very appreciative of that.
I like Lismore a lot more now. When I first came 9 years ago it was a bit bogan. Back then I didn’t find Lismore very liberating. Coming back and seeing all these really funky places popping up and the great effort council is putting in to our town is awesome. Lismore has really evolved and working back here is like, OMG Lismore is funky. Lot’s of cool cafes and cool places, great people.”