How we learned to overcome fear and to fall in love with a basement1
StudioKargah is a one-hundred-odd square meter basement, located in Fatemi Square, down Golha Square, in the centre of Tehran. Fourteen years ago, two or three classmates from Soore University set up this studio for graphic design, and today I have more than a dozen friends working there. The Studio is an open-plan flat without partition walls, where all the members work side by side. The walls are covered with paintings, posters, recyclable material, and some of the studio’s work. Next to the studio’s entry staircase, there is a storage area in which harmless, inoffensive metaphysical creatures are said to exist. During the five years of my familiarity and close collaboration with the studio, I have always found it a crowded, noisy, busy, and fast-paced environment.
The workshop-oriented method of StudioKargah:
A studio-based system, or a workshop in its classical conception
Although they are successful as a group, each of my friends in the studio could become a successful artist or graphic designer on his/her own. Like numerous creative designers we know, they are lonely attractive islands. However, what have turned these scattered islands into an archipelago forming a lively studio are the capabilities and facilities that are gained only through teamwork. Capabilities such as handling diverse activities, carrying out several projects simultaneously, raising discussions and challenges due to the coexistence of different tastes and abilities, and focusing unanimously on the implementation of a specific project once needed. Presumably, all of the people working in this environment under a common name will gain positive individual achievements through successful teamwork.
Collaboration with StudioKargah2
After working on a few graphic design projects with the studio, our common interests and goals paved the way for a more serious, durable collaboration. Apart from enjoying common aesthetics, what bolstered the cooperation between us was an obsession for collecting, investigating, and displaying the documents and work of different eras of Iranian art history — in particular, parts of history that were either neglected by others or fell into oblivion without having been studied properly.
A collection of posters, books, catalogues, and magazines from the 1950s is gathered in the studio — constantly being photographed, documented, and transformed into digital versions. The basic idea behind this collection is to study different aspects of Iran’s contemporary cultural history that has been published in recent years through articles, and books. Some of the projects accomplished by StudioKargah and me in the past five years include the publication of books and organization of exhibitions about Ashurbanipal Babilla’s drawings, painting, and graphic works; Fereydoun Ave’s graphic design works; the visual identity of the Theatre Workshop; the history and graphic works of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults; Roudaki Hall’s graphic design; and the study of the visual culture of Film Farsi, a popular genre of Iranian movies.
The persistence of such projects –which are called “StudioKargah Projects” in the studio – and their demonstration in the form of books and exhibitions, has currently become a major part of the activities in the studio. This approach has led to new features within the studio’s work procedures:
• With this method, graphic design ideas are implemented freely – the designer or researcher is considered a client;
• Rather than dealing with orders from outside the Studio, the studio’s personal and group interests and concerns are pursued;
• Funding these projects by sponsors, selling books, etc. enables the implementation of future projects;
• An idea may be pursued in a targeted, long-term way through several projects
Other works by StudioKargah3
The studio often keeps long-term working relationships with its clients. With an approach to “design for institutions and art and cultural events”, the studio mainly serves galleries, museums, foundations, publishers, and curators. The studio designs visual identities for these places, and usually undertakes its implementation for a long period of time. During this long-term alliance, the parties discover mutual fields of cooperation; hence, new ideas are born and implemented. This cooperation and publication of products results in the propagation and influence of the studio’s unique aesthetics, and the manifestation of its artistic approach in graphic design projects. This approach has sometimes responded to a need the client didn’t even realize was present.
The studio has designed the visual identity for active art establishments in Tehran, such as Mohsen Gallery, Dastan’s Basement, Ab-Anbar Art Gallery, and Vista Gallery. It has also carried out the art direction and operation of the Collaborative Design Project of Azad Art Gallery during the past eight years – which is one of the most insistent and prolific graphic design projects in Iran. The design and publication of the Ardeshir Mohasses and Bahman Mohasses books is the outcome of the studio’s collaboration with such establishments.
Along with long-term projects, the Studio has also undertaken the design and curatorship of art and cultural institutions such as the Iranian Academy of Arts, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Tate Modern Museum in London, MAXXI Museum of Rome, etc.
Afterword
StudioKargah is not in fact merely a design studio—it is a place for communication, study, production, and exchange (in its material and immaterial sense). The studio’s organic growth thus far points to linear and ascending growth in the future.
1 This text is mainly an empirical account of a close encounter with StudioKargah rather than an analytical review of the Studio and its products.
2 The following lines describe the experience of my shared projects with StudioKargah.
3 In the course of my shared projects with the Studio, I witnessed the progress of the Studio’s other activities.