Intro post: Ira Goldberg 

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I was born in Ukraine and when I was 10 my family and I immigrated to Israel, where I grew up, graduated school, served in the IDF and earned my B.Ed. in Design and Education from Haifa Nery Bloomfield Wizo Academy. Since graduation I was working mostly with print graphics and advertising.

But, the interactive media, installations and physical computing fascinated me. I missed a passion for creative challenges and innovation but most of all I was missing the feeling of creating things with my own hands and not just the computer.
I found the combination of all it in the MFADT program at Parsons and immediately decided that I’m going to do it, even though it seemed like the most impossible fantasy at the time.

Computation – it is a big challenge for me, absolutely don’t have any programming background, but this is the reason for me being here. My biggest dream ever, was to make toys, but in a way it was impossible even to think about it. Now I’m totally obsessed with the idea to be able to develop and create my own interactive toys.

I love toys and mostly stuffed toys. My favorite childhood toys are still my favorite toys.  When I came to New York I took many stuff out from my suitcases just to make room for some more stuffed toys.
My favorite one, was a small, old, fluffy dog that was named “Bulka”, but unfortunately he mysteriously disappeared 14 years ago. I found this picture in the Internet, which reminds him a lot.

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