To Iran and back via Wembley part III, the Grand Finale

The time has come to draw a conclusion on this rather rambling multi-instalment post about the tale of my first trip to Iran, and perhaps try to explain what's Wembley got to do with it all.

ready made kamiz from a Wembley shop

My quest for wearable items (clothes that I could wear feeling comfortable both on a personal and on a cultural level) led me to bump right into the multicultural nature and history of London as well as my own: the material I bought from an Indian fabric shop in Wembley to make myself some kind of dress, was wrapped in a newspaper that was the Indian version of a British one and the article printed on it was about ...Italian politics!...

I have started this post talking about the curtains that I was re-purposing  to "set up a studio in my kitchen", which came from the Ikea store in Wembley.

Yes, Wembley isn't  just a place full of ethnic shops (fabric or otherwise); it's home to one of the biggest and strongest global brands there are in this contemporary world: IKEA, and when I say home I mean HOME, yes, to many of us, IKEA means HOME and to many of us home is synonymous with FAMILY.

So armed with my 'provisional clothes' and my 'janamaz' off I went to meet my Iranian family, in particular those members who didn't live in Teheran, but in the Mozandaran region, on the shores of the Caspian Sea

The first of many 'receptions' that were given in our honour in Iran

Some members of the family accompanied us all the way from Tehran to Amol

A view of the Mount Damavand on the way to Amol

A young girl proudly advertising the thriving salmon farming business of the Caspian Sea area

lots of young relatives in a portrait taken in the village of  Gazane, where the family originates

   








Amongst the presents I was given, as the newly met "bride" at some kind of belated "wedding reception" was a lovely pair of golden filigree earrings which had been specially commissioned by my mother in law to welcome me into the 'family' after nearly twenty tears

I probably have already mentioned how I (and I suspect many of us) have very mixed feelings about  Ikea. I feel that Ikea is a mirror of the way we live : a rich minority of the world starts something small but powerful, which then expands into something bigger and leads inevitably to exploitation of some kind and we all play this game both as victims and perpetrators.
Ikea is appealing: the furniture is flat packed, but of supposed quality. Clean cut, no (much) frills, modernist/ modern,  kind of ecological.  It signifies democratic design: how many of you remember the V&A exhibition of a few years ago (actually it was 1997, how time flies!) about Carl and Karin Larsson the creators of the so called   'Swedish style'? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Karin-Larsson-Creators-Swedish-Style/dp/1851772006/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375544451&sr=8-1&keywords=Swedish+style+Larsson
It was sponsored by IKEA and explicitly tried to link Swedish modernist style with the IKEA brand and ideology.
Yes, there are doubts about the credentials of its founder (suspected of Nazi sympathies by some); yes, we don't know whether somewhere along the line they employ child labour despite their claims that they don't, we are not quite sure about the concept and the products themselves and so on... and yet Ikea means home but a 'new kind of home,' a free one, one steeped in modernist, liberal, Nordic style, social democratic ideology. A caring, yet liberal home, where the kids are free to roam just as they are in the shop, where unlike Victorian British children they can be heard and seen ...it's modern: it's Britain leaves the Victorians and meets Europe along with Morris and ...cheap... (mind you, to a point, you get what you pay for, as they say...), it means that you can dream of starting a home, a family, or even an affordable life as a single person, but part of a bigger community

But Iran was different...

No much need for flat pack (or indeed any) furniture, sleeping on gorgeous carpets as a treat, on the roof of one of the house we went to visit in Amol

The nomadic spirit is ever present and you can feel it in the air, in the readiness to set up a table or a bed almost anywhere, more often than not with stylish implements that seem to materialize out of thin air...

Yet the hunger for modernity, and/or westernization is ever present in such an ancient yet very young country (due to the prevalence of young people in relation to the overall size of the population)
Here is a picture of my family and I with another young relative in a supermarket he owns in Amol

The check out area decorated with old Persian imagery

Above is another example of how they are always trying to re-invent themselves and their identities, by picking and choosing bits of their past
And these are two other  favourite pictures of mine featuring again a traditional style setting, where political and historical icons are placed alongside pictures of  family members often "photoshopped": highlighting crucial moments of their lifes, such as marriages or pilgrimages/trips or just  showing random bits,  taken in one of those "country houses" where they go back to their roots and relax

I am not always abreast of what happens in the international markets, and how these things work in "real life" therefore was a bit puzzled by how 'real' coke could be found in Iran notwithstanding the sanctions and had not a clue whether IKEA was allowed there.
So I was a bit surprised, when some other young relatives who came to greet us good-by at the airport, brought us some more presents carried in bags from ...guess where?...

To Iran and back once again (for the last time?)

The Azadi (Freedom) Tower, formerly known as Shahyad Aryamehr  or King memorial tower

It is funny how much time has elapsed between my last post on the first trip to Iran and this and  how the 'second instalment' was never published, even if it is there, almost ready and will probably follow this one.

While that one focuses on a particular object (the janamaz I had made for my mother in law, who recently passed away) and explains the reasons behind the title of the post, this post will mainly show some of the photographs, taken in August 2012 whilst in Iran.

Drinking espresso coffee and sour cherry juice in an 'Art' Cafe in Teheran, one of the many cafes where students and couples can go and meet freely without  nobody bothering them.

In this increasing tense international climate I think it's important to show a more realistic and balanced image of the country (even if it is only just glimpses!) and how ordinary people are resorting to creativity in order to gain precious bits of personal freedom.  Due to their history, this is an art in which all Iranians seem to be very skilled.
Iranians are proud of their heritage and  with the future looking more and more uncertain, they prefer to look back to the past to reinforce their sense of identity and find the strength to carry on with their lives in the face of difficult times.
But what past? Where do you draw the line?  Some prefer to look back to the very ancient past, some to the more recent one, especially the younger generations who haven't experienced personally the previous regime. Some regret the ' Arab invasion' but at the same time do not want to reject the whole Islamic culture, and most do prefer a 'middle way' if they can find one (Where does all that fundamentalism come from? I fail to see any trace of it among ordinary people, they seem a rather accommodating and inclusive lot!).
I am by no means qualified to even try and find an answer, I can only share this more than legitimate question, and hope that Iranians will rather find a way and a reason to look to the future. The cry for social justice and technological progress should go hand in hand with the quest for personal and political freedom.
Not that the West has much to teach in that respect!

On the way to Kashan

Service area on the way to Kashan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Main entrance to the Bagh-e-Fin in Kashan, a traditional garden, whose origins go back to the Safavid period.

In this wonderful garden in the city of Kashan, whose main entrance is shown above, there are two main building complexes, one going back to the Safavid dynasty and its main representative Shah Abbas, and the other to the Qajar dynasty. The garden is famous also for being the set of the murder of Amir Kabir the Qajarid chancellor, perpetrated by an assassin hired by the king Nasareddin Shah himself in 1852 (apparently the controversial chancellor was 'too advanced' for the king's liking) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Kabir.
He is now regarded as a symbol and a national hero.

Reconstruction of the murder of Amir Kabir with original objects on display , inside the  bath house (hummam), next to the actual room where the murder was committed.

Channel with fountains

The garden also houses several pools, and a bathhouse (hummam) which take advantage of a sophisticated underground water system that carries water from some nearby mountains to a reservoir and then inside the garden through visible channels and with a pressure sufficient for fountains to spring.

One of the pools

One of the rooms of the Hummum

Even though this year we had a little bit more time to go and see things (as opposed to time devoted to family commitments), it was still very limited and this trip to Kashan (which included a visit to Qom on the same day!)  didn't allow us to explore the place in full.  Kashan is also renowned for many other fine examples of traditional Persian architecture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashan and last but not least is an important textile and carpet centre. With its carpets being among the most prized of the whole Iran.

Model of a traditional loom

Some examples of traditional weaves, patterns and design

Unfortunately this shows only fragments of an immensely rich textile tradition. Some of the patterns can be seen on the decoration of the ceiling, as it often happens that they can be used interchangeably in both textiles and architecture (and I suspect in other materials/ techinques throughout the decorative and applied arts)

Ceiling showing details of the Gol-va Morgh (Flower and Bird) design, one of the most popular and beloved  Persian patterns, frequently used as a decorative motif on carpets.

Detail of the Gol-va-Morgh pattern on a tablecloth

Tablecloth featuring the gol-va- morgh pattern

The same motif can be seen above in one of the very few pieces of textiles I could lay my hands on, a lovely tablecloth that I managed to buy at the last minute!

We did have some time though for a ten minute ride on a horse-driven cart around the compound, with the horse engaging in a whimsical  race against a bike in front of him

Which the girls enjoyed thoroughly!

Sara with cousins Maryam and Mobina

The 'buggy' or doroshkeh decorated with some Qajari imagery

To Iran and Back via Wembley Part I

I know I never said this was going to be a travel blog, but travel I did, and the journey is still so present in my mind, that I cannot escape talking about it. I did say though, that this is a visual journey.

Indeed, after explaining the title of my blog, I wanted to tell a bit about the story behind the panel I used to set up my little working corner in the kitchen, optimistically rather than grandiosely, dubbed 'studio'.

It started life as my daughter's bedroom curtain, cheap and cheerful, bought just after the era of pure baby cutesy and before that of the pre-teen and teen fanciness.
Very good quality cotton and good finishing too.
Did I want to get rid of it just because it had overgrown my daughter's taste? Not really.
The 'fruity' pattern blends well in a kitchen set. It was made in Bangladesh I learned from the label, even though the design most probably originated in Sweden as it was bought in Ikea at their Wembley store.

Ready to be transformed into a panel with pockets with minimal intervention, it was a wonderful occasion to allay concerns about disposing too easily of a piece of textile that had already undergone quite a lot, one of those global objects that you cannot stop interrogating yourself about how many people have been affected by its making and in what ways.
Not to mention the wonderful feeling of not needing money to buy something because you are actually able to make it.

So far so good, not a big story, only one typical of so many textiles through the centuries, with design, manufacture, trade, and of course, consumption, going in all (sometimes unexpected) directions.

But then Iran took over, a journey attempted for years, with the plans always falling through at the last minute for one reason or another.  The return of my husband to his homeland after twenty two years of absence, the much anticipated meeting of his family with me and our daughter for the first time. A trip so emotionally charged that we could be forgiven for not organizing it properly, or at least this is my excuse.

Two questions above all occupied my mind over the weeks leading up to it. What to bring as presents and what Sara and I should wear in Iran?
After months of asking for advice everywhere and scouring the web too, we still weren't sure at all, and my husband, as they do, didn't have a clue (or if he did he managed to keep it well hidden).
So, I decided to make myself something between a kaftan and a kamiz, as in a Punjabi suit, to go with and then we would buy something according to the local fashion, once arrived.

And here Wembley comes into this other story too, for the first time:

After finding an address for a good Indian fabric shop on the Ealing Road off I went to buy the material.

For another little twist of fate, the three pieces of coordinated fabric were padded with a piece of newspaper folded inside, The Times of India, reproducing an article from the English ' Independent' about the Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and why he should resign (and that was 2008!)  Could not stop laughing! It would be nice to show you the photos here if some evil influence hadn't obviously managed to make them disappear from my drive!