Jasmine; A leading brand in Iranian wearable jewelry

In the world of jewelry and jewelry, the term wearable jewelry is a word that we may have heard less; But the use of wearable jewelry is not a new issue. Many Iranian tribes from the past to the present wore their ornaments on their clothes due to the use of large and heavy jewelry; As far as their ornaments were seen as a part of the clothes. Unfortunately, in recent years, due to the supply of jewelry and ornaments with foreign designs in the Iranian market, the elements, traditional motifs and handicrafts of our country have been forgotten, and these wearable jewelry have less demand among customers.

But in the meantime, artists and craftsmen like Yasan Tala brandare still interested in recreating the traditional jewelry of our country and have made efforts in this direction.

In this interview, Mrs. Farshte Rostamian – the daughter of Yasan Tala brand spokesperson – as the artistic director of this luxury brand, told us about the goals of Yasan Tala company in designing collections and their experiences.

The course of content in this interview:

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• A correct definition of the word jewelry
• The reason for the formation and purpose of Yasan Tala
• A brief definition of Baloch women’s ornaments
• Inspired by traditional Iranian jewelry in the Yasan Tala brand
• Inspired by the art of gold embroidery in jewelry design

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What is jewelry?

“Contrary to the general public’s opinion, who use the word jewelry for precious stones such as diamonds, diamonds, and emeralds; This definition is completely wrong. In fact, the meaning of the word JEWELERY is decorative objects that are worn on your clothes or body. They are usually made of precious metals such as gold and silver and are sometimes accompanied by precious stones.

At the beginning of the conversation with Mrs. Rostamian, she mentioned the correct definition of the word jewelry as a necessary and important point for those interested in the jewelry industry and closet audiences.

Biography of Yasan Tala jewelry manager and designer

Mrs. Fershte Rostamian, the daughter of Professor Mahmoud Rostamian – one of the lasting faces of the country’s gold industry – immigrated to America for their children’s education in 2006. Due to his birth and growth in a religious family, his constant concern has been to leave a positive and lasting impact in life. Based on this attitude, they made good use of their years of emigration and studied theology. The sense of patriotism and belonging to Iran made them return to Iran after 10 years despite the comforts in America. After returning to Iran, together with their father and brothers, they decided to promote their family business and nurtured their ideals – creating employment and changing the traditional structure of gold making into a modern industry.

Choosing the name Yasan Tala to design Iranian jewelry

Yasantala is an old and famous name that is run by the Rostamian family. This Esfahani family expresses their brand naming philosophy as follows:

“Yasan in old Iranian books means gods, pure, honesty and righteousness. These interpretations are completely consistent with the special value that God has given to the precious metal of gold.

But what is the mission and concern of this long-standing brand in Iran’s gold industry?

The main concern of Yasan Tala is to preserve the culture and traditional jewelry of Iran

In different parts of Iran, especially in villages and regions such as Sistan and Baluchistan, the traditional arts of rural communities have fallen from economic prosperity due to the mechanization of industries. As a result of this incident, many handicrafts and artistic products have been forgotten. In recent years, many artists from different parts of Iran have tried to recreate the artistic and historical values ​​of regions such as Sistan and Baluchistan and have made a lot of efforts in this way. Ms. Fereshte Rostamian is one of the concerned artists who explains about her activities as follows:

“Due to my father’s 70 years of activity as an artisan in Iran’s gold industry, he was always upset that valuable Iranian handicrafts, especially the traditional jewelry of our country, have been neglected for years. This concern has been the foundation of his great goal, which is to preserve and revive the native crafts and arts of the country in the field of goldsmithing.

The father’s concern, along with Ms. Rostamian’s interest in Iranian identity and their taste and talent in design, led to the presentation of Baloch Collection It was inspired by the native art of Iran. Also with Shahrabano collection They have paid tribute to their family background.

A brief description of the traditional ornaments of Baloch women

Before going to Yasan brand Baloch collection; It is better to have a brief overview of the history of Baloch women’s jewelry and its introduction.

The use of ornaments in Iranian tribes, in addition to the ornamental aspect of the body and clothing, has been a sign of the social, economic and religious status of people. For example, the use of ornaments among the women of Sistan and Baluchistan has a long history; So that the city of Sokhteh, which is five thousand years old, was one of the important centers of jewelry making in ancient Iran. These ornaments were sometimes so heavy and big that women wore them like clothes. In addition to self-decoration, Baloch women’s jewelry also has religious roots – as eye sight – and for this purpose, they used the combination of gold and turquoise stone (the symbol of the scarred eye in Iran).

If you are interested in the topic of using jewelry as an eye scar, read the article Can we survive using eye jewelry? take a look

Wearable jewelry inspired by traditional Iranian jewelry in Yasan style

With a review of the history of clothing and ornaments of Iranian peoples, the use of large ornaments and the combination of jewelry with clothes can be seen; Why did you choose the inspiration and recreation of Baloch ornaments?

Mrs. Rostamian answered this question as follows:

“In the city of Dubai with people who had Balochi origin; I had a business relationship. In this connection, there is a huge contrast between the mentality of the deprived areas of Sistan and Baluchistan and the rich people who were still trying to preserve their Baluchi identity; I felt. Sistan and Baluchistan is one of the culturally rich regions in Iran; But in many ways, it is considered one of the deprived provinces of the country. In recent years, I met many people who tried to help these deprived areas. This mentality arose in me that what is my role as an Iranian? With a lot of research that I did, I found out that in recent years, the needlework and handicrafts of Baluchistan have been inspired and used in many wearable items; But in the gold industry, they have not benefited from this original art.”

In 2017, this entrepreneurial lady, inspired by Baloch women’s jewelry, responded to their honorable father’s concern to preserve handicrafts. In this work, he presents his personal interest in combining jewelry in clothes with a collection of wearable jewelry. YASANTALA, a collection called Baloch that includes wearable jewelry; presented for the first time in Iran’s gold industry. Balloch collection pieces are much larger than the usual sizes for jewelry. These pieces with this size and efficiency have been produced for the first time in Iran’s gold industry. The implementation of these wearable pieces, which are made of very delicate chains, has been very time-consuming and complicated.

These ornaments have many functions and take any shape. “Opera” roll dress can be easily changed and you can use this artistic gem in your style according to your own taste and with any style of dress.

Yasan Goldsmith Company hopes to be able to introduce the culture and beauty of Baloch art to the people of Iran and the world as much as possible.

Designing traditional jewelry and paying tribute to Shahrabano

Cashmere embroidery is one of the authentic Iranian arts in which valuable fabrics and fibers such as silk, wool, etc. are used. One of the important features of the art of cashmere embroidery is its combination with other traditional arts of Iran, such as sarmedozi, by which very beautiful and diverse products can be produced. The beginning of cashmere weaving in Iran dates back to the early Safavid period, and Isfahan is the main birthplace of cashmere in Iran. On the original cashmere in Isfahan, with the original silver wire with gold coating, they used to do silver embroidery.

Mrs. Rostamian’s grandmother was very skilled in the art of cashmere embroidery; An art that is also the heritage of their hometown.

“From my childhood, I remember that my grandmother was a faithful woman who was very skilled in the art of cashmere embroidery. He had taught his art to my aunts and they used the combination of the art of embroidery and cashmere to decorate their clothes. This topic has always been very interesting and inspiring to me. When I started working in the gold industry; I decided to be inspired by my grandmother’s art and design a collection with this concept. At Shahrbanu collection, we have been able to present artistic jewelry inspired by tradition but in accordance with today’s trends by taking a new look at the precious turquoise stone and reviving the Iranian identity.

Shahrbanu is the name of Mrs. Rostamian’s grandmother, and paying tribute to her family background, preservation of authenticity and interest in the culture of Iran and the land are among the elements of the story of Shahrbanu’s collection. This collection has a special spiritual value for them.

As said earlier; Shahrabano’s collection is a combination of cashmere and gold embroidery, using Iranian turquoise stone and gold. The performance of these two authentic Iranian arts with gold metal, which was previously done with very thin threads and wires; It has not been an easy task.

“This pioneering and unique collection that was performed for the first time in Iran; It has been challenging for us and accompanied by many trials and errors. In this collection, we got a lot of help from the weaving art of Iranian women and we had mutual cooperation with these artists. At first, this was not easy due to the difference in the nature of knitting yarn and gold metal; But with perseverance and a lot of effort and by God’s grace, we were able to overcome this problem. Working with women weavers and using their art during the implementation process of the Shahrabano collection was very beneficial for us, and it was also a different experience for their fledgling business.

After the initial ideation of the collection and going through the challenges, the Yasantala collection has presented a handmade collection in the high jewelry category using very thin and delicate chains and benefiting from the art of hand weaving. Unique and rare jewels that have not been performed in Iran so far.

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“They want us to be like everyone else”

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At the end of the conversation, we talked about the audience and customers of jewelry in the Iranian market. They expressed dissatisfaction and explained as follows:

About 70% of our customers are Iranians abroad who are fans and interested in Iranian art. These people, due to living in different cultures and comparing Iran with other countries in the field of valuing traditional culture and art, place more value on the country’s handicrafts.

He further said: “Unfortunately, there is a consumerist view of gold in the Iranian market. The domestic audience’s view of gold is not an artistic and traditional view. Still, customers are looking for famous designs and brands of jewelry in the market, which is very bad for our handicrafts and traditional crafts.

In the future, we hope for the handicrafts and traditional arts of our country, as well as for the artists who try to keep these arts alive; Pay special attention.