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Interview with Aida Mehranfar |
Home > Designer Interviews > Aida Mehranfar |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Aida Mehranfar (AM) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Aida Mehranfar by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
AM: When I was a seven-year-old child, I had a drawing teacher. The teacher read me stories and asked me to draw pictures on paper at the same time. And I fell in love with drawing stories and after that I started drawing more. And when I grew up, I went to art school and studied graphics. And after completing the university course in the same field of study, I got acquainted with bag design, and little by little this work became a part of my life.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
AM: Fida is a small and exclusive design studio. Fida's main focus is on the quality of design and production of works, not the quantity of production. FIDA has an orderer instead of a customer. People talk to us about their personal life experiences and we make exclusive designs for them. Fida bags are a part of customers' lives and are not just bags for carrying things. Also, music has a great influence on Fida's designs. Sometimes music is Fida's source of inspiration for design. Each music has its own design.
FS: What is "design" for you?
AM: Design is a way of life for me. It is also the language that I use to speak. Basically, I am a person who does not talk much, but I convey my opinions to my audience through design and color. When I start listening to deep music, designs and colors form in my head and become a coherent whole. I transfer them to paper, and then I make patterns and implement them. Each of the bags I design has many words to say. Through design, I communicate with the parallel world inside me. A world that shows me the true way of life.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
AM: I love designing exclusive bags because it allows me to enter the inner world of another human being and design according to his words and his worldview. Entering the different world of people is very enjoyable for me and helps me to have a more accurate and deeper view of life. For me, this work is like therapy sessions. Where I get to know myself through the knowledge of other human beings. And this is life itself in my opinion.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
AM: I am currently designing a new collection that has not yet been implemented. This series examines psychological issues and mental injuries. Doing this project is really fun for me because I learn a lot while designing. It's been months since I started designing this collection and I've had a lot of fun since then, because I have to do a lot of anthropological research to design each piece and it's a lot of fun for me. is the departmen.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
AM: The first thing I designed was a bag inspired by a violin design. I live in a country where there are many prohibitions for women and girls. Music is one of the prohibitions. I started playing the violin when I was a teenager. I worked in this field for about 8 years and even performed on stage. But there are many problems for a female musician in my country, that's why I stopped playing an instrument. I put it aside forever, but I always had a dream of playing an instrument in my head. For this reason, I decided to fulfill my wish through design. I designed and made a bag with a violin design. Because I design and make my wishes in the form of a bag.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
AM: I love using different materials in my work, but the main material I use in making bags is natural leather.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
AM: When I make designs that depict the deep and inner feelings of another person. When a person understands the concept of my design and communicates with it without speaking to me. When the design, color and form speak to my audience without the intervention of language. When I get a strong and deep connection with my audience.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
AM: The thing we need to know about the design of products like bags is that bags are essentially a functional product. From the most basic bags that have been produced to this day, the bag has been and still is a means of comfort for people in their belongings. The point that I pay a lot of attention to when designing is that each product must maintain its practical nature while respecting design, aesthetic and visual points. In addition, the bag is a product that shows the culture of a country. Therefore, it is very important and interesting for me to observe that every bag design should be able to display the culture of the country where the designer grew up.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
AM: When I start drawing, I feel like a person going through therapy sessions. Drawing for me is like meditating. Because in order to design each of my products, I need to do a lot of research on different aspects of a human being, and this helps my personal growth a lot. The world of designs and colors and the inner world that originates from my subconscious is very lovely and enjoyable for me.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
AM: At this time, I am experiencing the feeling of a mother who has given birth to her child. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to give birth to a baby, but I have had this experience a lot in my field of work. Every time a bag is born, I like to look at him for hours because I get peace from him and I feel that a part of me has been transferred to the outside world.
FS: What makes a design successful?
AM: What makes a design successful is that it can grow from the subconscious mind of the designer. This will help you establish a deeper connection with your audience. At the same time, we must consider other aspects of it, such as the practicality of the product.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
AM: Basically, I don't label any design as good or bad. Being good and bad is a man-made standard. Maybe a design that is called bad in my opinion is very good in someone else's opinion. But in general, I relate to designs that have a strong background
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
AM: Since I myself am a designer who cares a lot about social issues and I use them in my designs, I think the designer is responsible for his society. Tah must be a good sociologist, he must be a good anthropologist, he must be familiar with psychological issues. He should know the history of his society and design with the help of these issues. The designer can contribute to the awareness of his community about many social issues.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
AM: My last exhibition was last fall in Iran in Tehran. And an exhibition will be held in the future until 2024, which will be held in collaboration with my composer friend Behrouz Paygan.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
AM: There are many things that I am inspired by. including the culture of my country, music, social issues and psychological issues.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
AM: When I was just starting my career, I chose the traditional work style. Little by little, over time, I combined this style with the modern style so that it represents the art of my country and can be more easily connected with international art.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
AM: I live in iran. My country is full of art and ancient ruins and cultural heritage. Kasuri with a 2500 year old civilization. Full of different and rich traditional arts, each of which can be a good source of inspiration for producing new works. That's why I get inspiration from the culture and spirit of my country for my designs. Architecture, painting, poetry, music are the things that inspire me in my designs. The only problem I have in my field of work in my country is that despite the good history of my country's culture and art, it has been sanctioned by most countries and it is very difficult for me to communicate with outside my country. We all know that one of the main pillars of the world of fashion is communication, and without it, the work becomes very difficul.
FS: How do you work with companies?
AM: We have been working privately and with our own brand name, but we would be happy if we could cooperate with big companies.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
AM: In my country, there are many good designers who are unable to communicate with the world market due to communication restrictions and sanctions in the country. I will be happy if one day big companies can see the abilities and art of Iranian designers.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
AM: My design process is a little different from others. I design by listening to music. I am even designing a new collection in the same way. This is very enjoyable for me. Music notes and sounds inspire me to design. Then I transfer the designs to paper and the patterning stage begins.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
AM: My days are summed up in these words: love of food, music, walking, driving, drawing, looking at nature, researching and writing.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
AM: My suggestion is that they should first research and study the ways famous designers of the world have gone. Valuable manipulations of designers over many years can help them not to repeat their mistakes and find their way more easily. Listen to your inner self and try to design with your subconscious mind and use design as a way for human growth and improvement. In fact, live the design.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
AM: In general, every job has its own advantages and disadvantages. Being a designer has been a lot of fun for me so far. But it also has its issues and problems. As an Iranian designer, it is very difficult for me to keep up to date with the modern world of design and communicate with the world outside my country. If I want to talk about more personal things, I must say that being a designer changes your outlook on life. At times, your vision becomes deeper and this may cause you to be lonely and not understood by the general society, but on the other hand, it allows you to live the way you like.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
AM: My golden rule as a designer is to be myself. To have my own limits and maintain my own identity in my designs.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
AM: If we want to talk about personal skills, I must say that a designer must be able to establish a strong relationship with the inner self and the external environment and create a balance between these two. He must have a high understanding of the issues and problems governing the society, see the society with different strata and analyze the behaviors, he must be a good anthropologist and have reached self-knowledge. But if we want to talk about executive skills and techniques, I must say that he must be familiar with design programs. He must be able to implement at least the prototype of the design he makes. He should know different materials in his field of work and be familiar with different execution techniques.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
AM: First of all, I find the source of my inspiration and research it. After that, I execute the design manually and then enter it into the software, and after that, the pattern making and making of the prototype starts.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
AM: I think all designers face the problem of time constraints. Because the audience only sees the main result of the work, while many steps take place behind the scenes, the fog creates the final design. I can't tell you that I use a special sugar to manage my plans, but meditating and listening to music speeds up my work and helps me manage things more easily.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
AM: This is a very general question. Design time depends on many factors. My personal experience has been that sometimes the design of a work may take an hour and another design may take days. It depends on how much time it takes to form the plan. Sometimes a plan is inspired in a dream and when you wake up you just implement it quickly. Sometimes you need to do research for days to find the source of inspiration
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
AM: The question I get asked the most is how did you get started?
FS: Who are some of your clients?
AM: Our customers are of two types. The first group is from the general public and they only buy practical bags, and the second group is people who want customized bags from us and we design and produce them according to their wishes.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
AM: I enjoy special designs. Because this is exactly related to the inner world of humans. They play a music player of mine and ask me to design for them. Or they talk about their traumas and I make a sketch of their pain. Or they talk about their pleasant life experiences and I start to design according to them, and this new connection conveys a great feeling to me and makes me experience a good personal growth.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
AM: My overall plan for the future is to connect with the world through design. My next project focuses on psychological issues. In this way, I am trying to help people to deal with the problems and hardships of their lives and draw a beautiful drawing of their injuries and wounds through the world of design to turn them into a tool for their growth and improvement. I decide to have a deep connection with people and help them to bring out their inner injuries with the help of design. Because design is my language and I have learned to communicate with people in this way.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
AM: I work individually for design, but I get help from the team to implement the designs
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
AM: Yes. As I explained in the previous posts, I have a collection in hand that talks about social harm and psychological problems and also about the solution to these problems. This collection will be inspired by rock music.
FS: How can people contact you?
AM: Currently, I am working in the Instagram environment, but I am busy designing my personal website and this website will be activated soon.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
AM: There is no other case. The fact is that I strongly hope that the world of fashion and fashion will get to know Iranian designers more and the art of these designers will be seen.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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