The use of traditional designs as ornamental work on leather craft, an innovation of a local artist, has achieved popularity among the Iranian Diaspora.
Forough Kord, the artist, makes leather craft, mostly shoes and handbags, under the trade name “Hoor” (meaning Sun) in the city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran, Honaronline reported.
Domestic customers of the leatherwork with traditional designs are mostly from the Northern provinces, as well as Tehran, Khorasan, and Isfahan. Iranians living abroad buy about 40 percent of her products, as they find in them “a reflection of their identity,” she said.
One’s creations must represent the place of their origins, especially for Iranians who live abroad, she maintains. “Our traditional visual art is so rich in design and color, which can be used in clothes and become a fad.” Kord’s designs have nothing to do with global fashion trends, she said, and they are not “time based”.
“I use original colors which can be matched with a different range of clothes,” she explained.
The distinguishing characteristic of her art is acrylic paintings on leather. “I select my designs from rugs, gabbeh (hand-woven rug of coarse quality), carpets, and tiles,” she said, adding that she is interested in the original colors and designs used in these crafts.
“Before I come up with an idea to use in my work, I sometimes keep looking at a particular design for a whole month,” she added.
