routine is the worst. enemy of the human

being, it makes us not being able to see the beautiful things that are surrounding us, it makes us not realizing the good things that are happening in our lives, while we continue are sometimes not exciting in so-called modern life, some people come to remind us of the treasures we have and remove the dust of oblivion of the jewels that we keep in the basement of our houses. lena is a german girl who recently published a book called behind the closed curtains, which reminds us that it is possible to dust off our traditional home elements, remodel them and give them a modern look and create daring, bold and lively interior design. what leno has recorded in her book is only sample of the historical background of using decorations in iranian interior design. and architecture, which is

rooted in combination of iranian culture, religion and art, and it has evolved as time passes by. as matter of fact, iranian houses were a place for development of spirit and physical calmness. there is one thing in common between us and lenna, we both use this camera to record interesting events and life stories. lenna and her team travel all over iran and took their camera behind the closed curtains of iranian houses. they shot photos and recorded lifestyles, decorations and designs that are somehow modern, but have roots in our history. something that was not possible a couple of hundred years ago, but lena wants to make sure she produces something that... can be used as a reference

for future generations, something that shows where and how some iranians lived in the 21st century. was a student of middle eastern studies politics um back in germany and um was learning some farcy, the farcy of the books and uh wanted to learn the proper farcy of of the streets and really get to know the country itself. so while traveling in iran, um, i understood that, okay, there is something in iran, we don't have uh, that way, so much, we also have it in europe, but not in that way, uh, which is handicrafts. um, so what i

understood is like, okay, handicrafts, that's something everyone can relate to, because it is interior design, it is decoration, everyone has house you have to decorate, so that's where i started, i thought, okay, also in iran there will be people who decorate the house and decorate them in a nice way, even if they're probably not interior designers, what makes iranian decorative element? more special is that they're timeless, you always find some shining aspects in them, something to fall in love with. i think it's really cool when you're um mixing something from old and um bringing it in into the modernity. um, so this is for example what what mortiza did here with these henno stones which are traditionally used uh to paint the or you place the feed on it um the night before you getting married and then you got the hand up.

on the feet um so this was was the original use, but what m mortiza did he copied them um and use them as basically the feet for a coffee table? it is used out of outside of the religious context, it's decoration uh, and i think it is really beautiful and impressive piece, especially of course with all the feathers in this um pink fleshy color contrasting to the white of the house uh, in evaying culture, i mean there is um the flower. as topic is really important so um what we see here is like lot um actually it's a light um which means also in persian um the the flower and here i think it's really nice the shape you find them through out you run um these either candles or nowadays also they

work with electricity um but it's a it's a soft shape so um again it's a curve like in iranian architecture you find a lot. "imin hussein is an iranian artist inspired by his roots. what is more felt at his house is daring innovation that definitely comes from a character full of taste and art. what he does is to introduce another usage for the elements of persian architecture and art, and thus, let us see beyond the ordinary and normal elements of our life.

یه صوتی از یه صدای آبی هم لذت می بریم و با همدیگه گپ و گفت می کنیم و خب یه تایمی رو به. به این نحو ممکنه میگذرونه چون اینجور امکانات وجود داشته دیگه برمیگشته به خلاقیت اون افرادی که استفاده کننده یه همچین امکاناتی بودن ما الان ترجیح میدیم که تو این دوره زمانه این شکلی از حوزه ما استفاده بکنیم تا اینکه حالا فقط یه زیبایی خاصی رو به فضای معماریمون بخشیده باشه حس می کنیم که باید یه کاربرد بیشتری رم ازش داشته باشیم. center yard with pond in a middle which is surrounded by rooms with different usages during different seasons of year. at the first glance you think this is a typical iranian traditional

house, but for sure it is nothing like my grandparents house. from what i remember, many decorative and architectural elements are the same, but they're being used. decorating your house is definitely not a piece of cake, especially when you're looking for some very unique items that are infused

with persian culture and our traditions, but remember that there's an artist inside of every one of us, an artist that knows what is beautiful and what is not, an artist that knows how to put things together, but we don't necessarily have the creativity to make these decorative items, and for that reason people in places like here made our lives easy. you just need to come here and see all these beautiful items, pick what you love, make sure that it goes good with your other stuff, and make sure that it fits your personality. stores like this are the results of a recently started movement by some young. iranians who renovate old houses and decorate them with antique-like and traditional decorative islands. i'm very inspired by all these amazing stuff and looking forward to use them to decorate my own house sometime soon. i should say this is the happiest day

of my life because i have published a book on interior design in iran uh and this is the final day the the book presentation. um... i feel super happy, i am super exhausted too, because it has been hard work, um, i've gone through lot of ups and downs in the last eight months. things, but i feel proud to now say, okay, i published a book, this is the book, and i'm a writer, and i've done something for iran, a country i really love, and i started with the purpose to show a different iran to the world, and i think i, i achieved it, and iran is a mysterious land, every... corner of it and every aspect of it is a book with thousands of pages, with

beautiful images and amazing stories. sharior azimi for iran.