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04/24/2023

Banafsheh Hemmati

Dismantling the Order of Islamic Geometry

By Banafsheh Hemmati

The Iranian designer-artist Banafsheh Hemmati has designed jewelry, furniture, landscape, light, and accessories for more than 20 years.

She began designing jewelry to go with the clothes she designed for herself. “I could find no jewelry to suit them,” says Hemmati. “Ultimately, I designed the jewelry that suited them best.”
Born in Tehran in 1974, Hemmati is a master’s graduate in industrial design. Her passion for philosophy later led to her obtain a PhD in philosophy of art. Her doctoral thesis was concerned with the philosophical foundations of the relationship between art and geometry.
She’s the founder of Banafsheh Design Studio, in Tehran.

The Architecture Collection is the result of traveling to different cities in Iran and photographing historical monuments. “In this collection of works, unlike my later works, which are self- developments of traditional motifs, I considered adapting these motifs,” says Hemmati. Large architectural dimensions in this set of dimensions have lost their magnitude and have become small-scale jewelry. “In the Architecture Collection, I was looking to use the potential of the architecture of the past and make it from a remote and distant work into a piece.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Sky Dome, from the Architecture series (image includes a photo of the building that inspired the jewelry design), 2011, pendant, gold, London topaz, 1 ⅞ x ¾ x ¼ inch (47 x 19 x 5 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“This collection is a boundary between my early works, which were adapted, and my later works, in which I have looked at retrospective motifs with a broader view,” says Hemmati. “I refer to it as the self-appropriation of tradition. The basis of this set is Islamic geometry.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, The Sun, from the Architecture series, 2011, ring, silver, radius: ¼ inch (6 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“The Middling Ring of this collection refers to the entanglement of motifs that we have seen differently in the decorations of Islamic art. In designing these motifs,” says Hemmati, “I intended to dismantle the order of Islamic geometry in addition to redefining it. In a way that this geometry does not belong anywhere." | Banafsheh Hemmati, Middling Ring, from the Boundary series, 2014, silver, 1 ⅛ x ⅞ x 1 ¼ inch (27.5 x 22.5 x 33 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

The Falling pendant refers to the tradition of mirroring in Iranian art. In the upper section of this section, the mirror pendant has collapsed and has become a narrow, tangled line. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Falling, from the Boundary series, 2014, pendant, silver, 2 x 1 ⅜ inch (51 x 34 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“While designing this series, I was looking for new experiences,” says Hemmati. “I came up with the idea of using daily stuff. Objects that have been around us forever, and we're so used to them that we have never considered them in any other way and turned them into jewelry.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Hinge, from the Hinge series, 2017, bracelet, bronze, leather, photo courtesy of the artist

“Finally, I chose a hinge for its ability to rotate and to be more likely to be used as jewelry because of its form,” says Hemmati. “Then I tried to reach a point of semantic conflict and a paradox in form and reached a new artistic level of quality by putting it on the female body and using sensual photography.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Hinge, from the Hinge series, 2017, bracelet and ring, bronze, photo courtesy of the artist

“In the Always Collection,” says Hemmati, “I sought to reverence the past along with the difference. In other words, the past will never be repeated except by a difference. According to Heraclitus, a river cannot be crossed twice. At the time when I was designing this collection, I repeatedly thought that neither we were human nor the river of the past. In the Rain Earrings, I thought of the form of raindrops flowing in the river." | Banafsheh Hemmati, Rain, from the Always series, 2014, earrings, silver, 2 ¼ x ⅝ x ⅝ inch (57 x 15 x 15 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“In the Domain Pendant” says Hemmati, “I used a node, stretched the top of it, removed the node lines at the bottom, and turned it into a surface so that the node could be repeated with a new appearance. In fact, it is the power of difference that is repeated in the works of this collection.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Scope, from the Always series, 2014, pendant, silver, 2 x 3 ⅜ x 2 ⅛ inches (52 x 10 x 54 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Girih tiles are an Islamic pattern. “This pattern,” says Hemmati, “can also be extended from any kind of chance and accident, encouraging me to use them as a source of deconstruction, to distort their secure order and arrangement, and extend their visual potential.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, brooch, silver, 1 ⅞ x ⅛ x 2 inches (48 x 4 x 50 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“For me,” says Hemmati, “intervention in these established forms stands for the pursuit of the possibilities of interfering in concrete structures and solid notions.” Banafsheh Hemmati, (in background) Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, sculpture, 57 ¾ x 60 inches (147 x 152 cm), photo courtesy of the artist

“Along with its visual attractions as well as challenges” says Hemmati, “this device represents my attitude toward, and engagement with, the philosophical problem of truth. That is why the structures are made in layers, which represent, on another level, the established order and repetition within the concrete structure of geometry. Instead of extending and proliferating the motifs on the surface to construct new forms, the whole form is repeated in depth.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, brooch, silver, 2 ⅛ x ⅛ x 2 inches (55 x 4 x 50 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

“The twist I enacted onto the Girih, which challenges the rationalist, inflexible structure of geometry, makes a metaphor for challenging the idea of the unity of truth,” says Hemmati. “The three-dimensional structures I have made are various angles of a certain original structure.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, (on wall) Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, sculpture, 70 x 94 ½ inches (170 x 240 cm), photo courtesy of the artist

“The absence of the original, central structure is displayed in one of my sculptures in the Trace of Absence collection,” says Hemmati. “Its absence means the impossibility of its presence; which means the concealment of the presence and the traces of its absence. This reconstructs an image of our encounter with the contemporary plural idea of the truth which is affected by various paradigms. When the absent form rotates in space, it makes variations depending on the angles, some of which I have constructed in metal. According to the angles of the twist, the central void in the geometrical form varies between circles and ovals, or at times totally disappears.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, sculpture, 65 x 60 inches (166 x 152 cm), photo courtesy of the artist

“To me,” continues Hemmati, “it is a metaphor for an age which has implemented multiple truths. I tried to consciously display this idea by means of geometry, which has historically acted as a mirror of the order in nature and the uniqueness of the truth.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the The Trace of Absence series, 2020, ring, 1 ⅛ x 1 x 1 ½ inch (30 x 25 x 39 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

In the Body Geometry collection, jewelry is not only made to be possessed by the body but also contradicts the body. The body pushes them back after a while. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, bracelet, silver, 2 ½ x 2 ½ x 3 ⅛ inches (65 x 65 x 80 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, bracelet, silver, 3 x 2 ½ x 2 ¾ inches (75 x 62 x 69 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Such consideration converts the jewel into a sculpture, in which the body plays a role, as well. The body acts as a medium to represent it. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled (closed), from the Body Geometry series, 2018, bracelet, silver, 2 ⅝ x 2 ⅝ x 3 ⅛ inches (68 x 68 x 80 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled (open), from the Body Geometry series, 2018, bracelet, silver, 2 ⅝ x 2 ⅝ x 3 ⅛ inches (68 x 68 x 80 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Like the sculpture leg, i.e., a “side work” which either gives or removes meaning to/from the sculpture, the body may also have the same role when wearing jewelry. In several cases, the jewelry demonstrates certain criteria other than being ergonomic and fitted into the body. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, ring, silver, smoky quartz, 2 x ½ x 1 ¾ inch (50 x 13 x 43 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, ring, gold, blue sphere, ¾ x ⅝ x 1 ¾ inch (20 x 15 x 45 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

"The traditional jewelry perception is one of ornamenting the female body and in this way generating legitimacy for such a body," says the artist. "However, the jewelry in this collection detaches from such a familiar and traditional function." | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, ring, silver, citrine, 1 ½ x ⅛ x 1 ½ inch (37 x 4 x 37 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

"Instead of being fitted into the body, it deliberately highlights itself and changes the focus from the female body to the jewel. Therefore, the subject of gaze is not the body, assisted by the jewel, but the latter itself," explains Hemmati. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, ring, silver, gold plate, 1 x 1 x 1 ⅜ inch (24 x 27 x 35 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

In these works, Islamic geometry has been deconstructed. Such deconstruction has been conducted considering Islamic geometry aesthetics and form, and the artist has tried to borrow a certain part of such geometry and repeat it in more extensive aspects. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, ring, silver, gold plate, 1 x 1 x 1 ⅜ inch (24 x 27 x 35 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

This component refers to the geometry’s repeatable characteristics. However, the distinction between the work of the artist and decorative attitudes to Islamic geometry in choosing and selecting is a part of the same. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Body Geometry series, 2018, earrings, silver, gold plate, ⅞ x ⅞ x 3 ⅝ inches (21 x 21 x 92 mm), photo courtesy of the artist

This installation is derived from the cut trunks of trees. They are suspended and have no support from the ground. In traditional symbolism, the tree is interpreted as a supporting pillar between the earth and the sky and establishes a balance between the earth and the sky, but in this installation, it is shown that this stable balance between the earth and the sky is no longer established and suspended trunks refer to the disappearance of this established system. The numbers projected on the works of this installation refer to the acceleration of environmental destruction in the contemporary world, for instance, the number of trees cut down every minute or the amount of greenhouse gas emissions every hour, etc. | Banafsheh Hemmati, Seven Cypresses, installation, presented at Dubai Design Week 2022, stainless steel, each piece: 70 ¾ x 11 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches (180 x 30 x 45 cm), photo: Mahmoud Mahroomi

“In the body of each of the plastic shapes of this installation, I have deliberately used the combination of Gothic and Islamic geometry to point to the traditional cosmology and its special perception,” says Hemmati. “In this installation, like my other works in the field of design, I have appropriated these motifs. In this installation, I tried to create a new form by combining Gothic geometry and Islamic geometry, and I intended to point out a common component in the art of the East and the West. This geometry refers to none of those two traditions alone, but is a combination of both. Gothic art, like Islamic art, is based on traditional theology and cosmology, and making it contemporary means a fundamental change in the perception of this art from the truth. In this collection of plastic shapes, there is a single shape, and the change in this single shape has led to the discovery of multiple shapes. From every angle we look at them, a new aspect reveals itself, and we face a different aspect.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Seven Cypresses, installation, presented at Dubai Design Week 2022, stainless steel, each piece: 70 ¾ x 11 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches (180 x 30 x 45 cm), photo: Mahmoud Mahroomi

“The use of these two traditions is due to their universality and reference to tradition says Hemmati. “In traditional thinking, we do not face environmental crises, because nature has a sacred and symbolic meaning. But in contemporary thinking, environmental crises are one of the most basic concerns of contemporary man. In contemporary thinking, nature has lost its symbolic meaning and has become a consumer object. Transferring Islamic geometry and bringing it closer to Gothic geometry in this installation has a memorial aspect. These memorial motifs refer to the symbolic perception of traditional systems regarding nature.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Seven Cypresses, installation, presented at Dubai Design Week 2022, stainless steel, each piece: 70 ¾ x 11 ¾ x 17 ¾ inches (180 x 30 x 45 cm), photo: Mahmoud Mahroomi

“The geometry of Islamic and Gothic motifs share a distinct feature that emerged from their cosmological systems: they both emphasize a hierarchical system,” says Hemmati. “Geometry serves the principle of transcendence and an exclusivist interpretation of truth, which does not give life to the plurality of truth. The symbolism, composition, and perspective of the arts that use such geometry are indicative of such an attitude. The connection between geometry and truth has given geometry a sacred role in the traditional worldview. This is completely incompatible with the contemporary view. According to contemporary philosophy, we are faced with a plurality of truths.” | Banafsheh Hemmati, Untitled, from the Islamic Gothic collection, 2021, earrings, gold, 2 ⅝ x ½ inch (67 x 12 mm), photo: Ramtin Jayhoon

Author

Banafsheh Hemmati

Banafsheh Hemmati is an Iranian designer-artist whose works in the field of art and contemporary design are based on the appropriation of traditional Iranian-Islamic geometry and motifs. She is a master’s graduate in industrial design and has a PhD in philosophy of art. In her doctoral thesis, she has been concerned with the philosophical foundations of the relationship between art and geometry. Her approach can be best described as appropriating Islamic geometry. For more than 20 years, Hemmati has been professionally active as a designer, sculptor, and the founder of Banafsheh Hemmati Design Studio, in Tehran. Alongside this professional work, she teaches at the university in Tehran.

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