A substantial breakthrough would be made from a Pinterest search result which led me to a random LiveJournal entry from 2009. This is where I learned about the TVO documentary Rafael Alfandary and Eriko Miyazawa: A Full Life, however, as you can probably guess, following the link supplied only provides a 404 error. Of course. I mean it has been 16 years but this documentary doesn’t exist anywhere online today, even in name only. Now, I have yet to reach out directly to TVO to inquire about this 2008 documentary but I am doubtful about whether they’ll be of much help. For an internationally-renowned, celebrity-endorsed Israeli-Canadian jewellery designer, this seems a little strange.
At some point, I learned that Rafael made a crown for Miss Canada 1973, and luckily, YouTube does have a video which briefly shows the crown.
Finally it occurred to me to hop on the Wayback Machine. It’s a little embarrassing how long it took me to think of approaching it from this angle. Anyway, heading straight to the archived source was extremely enlightening; old versions of rafaelcanada.com contains lots of useful information, including a short biography and many pictures I hadn’t seen before. I copied and pasted the text into its own page here to ensure his memory is kept alive, and have a dedicated page showcasing some unique and interesting pieces from sites around the web. The Wayback Machine also has a biography from engology.com, the text is also included in the biography page.
There are many pictures of celebrities and pieces designed for them, including necklaces designed for Pierre and Margaret Trudeau, Muhammad Ali, and more.
Though the necklace Prince wore to the People’s Choice Awards in 2005 isn’t listed on Rafael’s website, I’ve included it here.
So given how famous and well-connected Rafael was, it seems odd to me that there is very little about him online today. Why doesn’t he have a Wikipedia page?? Regardless, I’m glad I was able to find some old images, albeit tiny in size, so we can get a better understanding of just how special this Canadian was.
What do you think? Am I reading too much into this or do you also find the lack of attention and information weird?
What is clear, however, is people are still interested in collecting his jewellery today. The company Samantha Howard Vintage is actively selling Rafael pieces at various shows, fairs, and markets. Just earlier this month, they set up shop at the Toronto Vintage Show at Exhibition Place.
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