Patterns of Afghanistan

Sima Vaziry is the founder of Sima Vaziry Jewellery where she communicates her heritage, personal experiences and the design discipline she has learnt during her life. Vaziry was born in Khorramshahr, South West of Iran by the Persian Gulf. She has had her jewellery displayed at The British Museum for the last 10 years. Vaziry said: “In 1978 at age 16. I left my home and family for the UK, just a few months before the Iranian revolution in 1979. When I came to the UK, I brought with me a different culture, memories, experiences and knowledge, together with my love of art, design, poetry and calligraphy. My marriage to my Afghan husband furthermore exposed me to Afghan culture and allowed me to translate all my accumulated influences into contemporary jewellery. I get inspiration from Afghan, Persian and Middle Eastern art, calligraphy, architecture and my pieces are a contemporary interpretation of the traditional.” Her book named: “Patterns of Afghanistan”, has roots in the extensive research she did for the Alina collection and its aim is to create an accessible modern design reference book. Vaziry added: “During the research for the Alina jewellery collection I created for Turquoise Mountain, I drew inspiration from Afghan embroidery patterns and found that there was an absence of good reference materials, covering all the ethnic groups and tribes making up the Afghan population. The Alina collection was inspired by the diversity of Afghanistan's tribes, coming together to build a peaceful future. Each region in Afghanistan has its individual styles and themes to which are added the women's imagination and storytelling and filled with personal pride.”