IICD is currently hosting to Dr. Mojgan Jahanara from Iran. A Ph.D. in Design theory and visual communication from Kobe Design University, Japan, she is serving as a visiting faculty at Indian Institute of Crafts & Design. She has also been associated as a visiting faculty with the design program of IIT Kanpur. She is an esteemed researcher at the Research Institute of Asian Design RIAD, Kobe Design University, Japan; and has been a fellow of Japan Foundation in RIAD and Japan Foundation’s cultural adviser in Iran. She has also chaired the Textile Design Department at the University of Art, Tehran, Iran.
According to her, Iranian culture holds a great heritage of motifs that traveled to different parts of the world. The possibility and opportunity of being in touch with the three great Asian cultures of Iran, Japan and India rendered her with the prospects of conducting studies at these very diverse cultural geographies where the forms and motifs have journeyed through centuries to make their mark on the present.
Her primary education happened in Iran, and then the Japanese government’s scholarship gave her the once in a lifetime chance twice to pursue higher education in one of the most prominent design university in Japan. Here she completed her Ph.D. under the able guidance of Professor Sugiura Kohei, a pioneer in the field of Graphic design. His philosophical methodology and design ideology opened to her a new perspective of observing and discussing the forms of Asia through the lens of their cosmological meanings.
Teaching grants a generous opportunity to throw all your ideas, experiments and studies open to discussions, deliberations and fresh opinions of young novices. The period of work in the textile design department at the University of Art in Tehran enabled her to continue her professional academic life in the field of design.
Her initiation in design happened with crafting hanging tapestries and costumes to produce visible outcomes of her researches years back. Connections with academics and artists in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan awarded her with access to different locations and materials. The lessons from her great teacher inspired her to establish one leg firmly in tradition and the other progressively in the future to walk steadily into the many paths of eternal design.
For more than ten years she has been traveling, doing her researches, teaching and living in three of her much-loved countries of Iran, India, and Japan. She feels fortunate to have received twice the Japan foundation fellowship and conduct a comparative study between Iran and Japan. The visiting faculty programs at IIT Kanpur and IICD Jaipur have helped her commence a serious study on Indian culture and share her experiences with young students.
Dr. Mojgan at IICD, with her work on Machlipatnam Kalamkari.
Dr. Mojgan speaking at a Varta session on ‘ Form Creations in Asia and the Idea of Zero-waste Designing’, at IICD Jaipur
Dr. Mojgan’s work on the synthesis of Iranian art and Indian craft of Machlipatnam Kalamkari
We at IICD have benefitted greatly, sharing from her vast pool of knowledge and broad base of exposure. Her presence threw a fresh light on the common ingredients of both our cultures, and opened newer possibilities of cultural exchange and assimilation.
