Hamansutra

CODE AMSTERDAM

Interview by Romy Uebel - Code Magazine 2008
Photography Kareem Black

Why did you decide to relocate to New York? How long do you plan to stay there?
We all contain an organic hard disk drive - the brain. And if we try, we can set up the system so that it works the way we want and need it to. Well, I clicked “reset” in my system settings – and New York is the perfect inspiration for me. In the heart of the metropolis I can feel the energy waves pulsing from all the worlds that have their home there. I suppose it’s what some people would think of as stress. The way I look at it, this place is full of brave and thirsty horses – and I’m one of them. It salves my conscience when someone else is talking about my future projects instead of me the whole time. But there are conservative people and boring people all over the world, people who suck the vitality and experiences out of creative, dynamic people like leeches. This is a great place for meeting interesting types on the street, in a bar or even at a barbecue or whatever, that can supply useful leads and contacts. But I don’t get those kind of contacts in Munich. This is where I want to spend my future, continue my company and, of course, have a lot of fun experimenting and playing. I spent my childhood up to 1982 in New York, and I have a lot of happy memories of the city. For me, New York has changed for the better in the last 24 years, particularly as far as crime rates are concerned.

New York is synonymous with tough competition in many respects. Is that also true of fashion?
What kind of response have you had up to now? Do people understand you over there?
I’m not a media zombie, so I’ve never felt the need to compete with anyone. Comparisons involve competition, and competition is not in my vocabulary. Let others do it if they want, like some of the chichi, useless prima donnas in the fashion industry. What does understanding really mean? Many people aren’t able to understand the creative work process, particularly people who are outside the specialist field – but they’re still able to provide a clear-eyed “normal” view of our work. For every clear-cut question that’s thrown up by an exhibition, fashion show or showroom, I need to deliver an equally clear-cut answer. Because my aim is to add fuel to the flames by producing designs that are more than merely provocative fashion – that are based on a philosophy. If I present a collection of unwearable fashion on a catwalk, it’s provocative because it challenges people’s idea of what fashion should be, and it also highlights the philosophy behind the designs. It can be an inspiration for the client.

You graduated from Central St.Martins. How did that affect your later career?
I hope first of all that St.Martins succeeds in preserving its signature and avoiding over-commercialization, because the trend I see on the catwalks is that more and more commercial lines and styles are coming in – everything is highly profit-oriented. But it’s still the crème de la crème of fashion institutes throughout the world – my pattern teacher had taught Hussein Chalayan and John Galliano, for God’s sake. She’s the heart and soul of the elite school – may I present the master tailor in the technical construction of clothing, “Mademoiselle Christine“. You’ll never manage to surprise her with your visions and your mathematical patterns – she’s seen it all and she always has an answer. St.Martins is the Premier League, a meeting-point for students from all over the world with the ambition of breaking into fashion. They know they’re in the top league, and the ways in which they think and work receive the support they need. If you want to design a leading brand, you have to be one yourself. In 2004 I designed my collection for women bodybuilders and was completely focused on my future experiments. After I left St Martin’s I opened my Munich studio. The baby was born.

You didn’t take the classic route to a career in fashion. What are your concrete plans for your label?
I’m going to continue with my private experiments and explore ways in which I can realize my sketches and my ideas. Whatever ideas they are, I can transform them into clothes. I regard the prototype clothes as artworks, and hang them on a clear wall for a while – I make unconscious corrections and notice details that will enable me to simplify the progress of my designs in the future – the same principle as oil painting. We live in our clothes like living in a house – look at snails and tortoises. There are untidy people and tidy people.

Which do you prefer – designing or teaching?
Both roles require a lot of preparation and organization that need passion to succeed and demand that I set myself a fictional deadline in order to get things done. I believe that teaching is art if the tutor loves his role like an actor. I look for fresh themes and introduce them in the form of practical case studies, the competition that exists in big business. A presentation should be like a constant and ruthless series of punches – left, right – left, right … No breaks to recover, just attack all the way. As a designer, I see the penstroke, the line, as an expression of emotion. I want my figures to be someone – I don’t want them to be nothing more than drawings.

Do you believe in success by chance?
Not at all. The German poet and philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche found a rich source of inspiration in the Persian Empire of 2500 B.C., and as a Persian in Germany I find inspiration in Nietzsche. I share his opinion that “no victor believes in chance.” Words such as misfortune, destiny, fun, luck, God often crop up, but they’re only stupid made-up words for people who don’t have too much self-knowledge and who don’t have a scrap of clarity in the aura they present to the world. Instead of “chance” I’d say “encounter”, for “God” I would use “intelligence”. I am where I am now – in the right place at the right time - not because of luck, but because of my own hard work and my strength of will.

Would you describe yourself as a control freak or perfectionist?
Aren’t we all control freaks to some extent? I don’t force my philosophy on anyone – I recommend it in my capacity as designer, DJ, tutor or maybe even just half of a relationship. I make suggestions, I don’t give orders. Suggestions that are based on experience. Not advice that seeks to control. And mostly the suggestions turn out to be good ones. I only make them when I’m asked to, and if I’m not I give first aid when it’s needed. Domination is about ruling – as a true Persian with 7000 years of history in my veins, I prefer the word, because perfection is protection. You have to be dominant and establish your personal image.

Is there anyone whose success you’re envious of?
No. nobody. When I was a child a clown once said to me, “Envy kills.” I’d use the word “admiration” – it shows respect and demonstrates that I don’t begrudge someone their success. We know that true quality can never be achieved by fast-tracking. Quality is the fruit of committed and ambitious work, the reward for an uncompromising striving for perfection. But striving for perfection is so much more than that.

Has anything changed in your approach to design and your aesthetic world?
What turns you on, what turns you off?
The architect Lebbeus Wood recently wrote to me that my designs are highly innovative – a real honor, because he’s a legend. What turns me off is when you smell the sweat off a fashion designer from his efforts at being innovative. It’s like fussily set typography, or an advertising campaign that tries too hard – and instead of attracting potential customers, it frightens them away. Change of direction – well, my new range of couture wedding dresses designed for customers in Teheran and Dubai is a change of direction. They feature ultra-fine fabrics hand-ornamented with Swarovski crystals.

“Because the game of fashion can have a thousand moves” – what does that actually mean?
My slogan is inspired by the Kama Sutra and the process of playing a game of chess. Chess was invented by the Persians. It’s a game of kings – it’s what the catwalk means to me. I developed my own philosophy from my passion for instructions, and the endlessly changing positions in the game of fashion.

Why did you create “hamansutra shirts for free”? Was it a one-off campaign or do you plan to repeat it?
I’ve been a DJ for fifteen years and have an enormous knowledge of music. It’s a good subject for a blog, to present myself as a “fashion DJ”. Music brings people together, so that you can create your own audience and get them going in response to the music you select. I rewarded my audience and their enjoyment by presenting them with hamansutra merchandising for free. It was incredibly popular and it will be repeated in the future as a spontaneous event. I produced all the shirts myself and re-invested – Germany’s club owners were too unreliable to find suitable sponsors, although they didn’t mind pocketing the takings from my club evenings. Maybe I should open my own club in New York.

What role does money play in your life?
When I had very little money, I was incredibly inventive and strong. I’d really like to leave my business finance up to someone who dreams of figures and who’ll leave me to dream of my creativity. As soon as money becomes no object people become megalomaniacs, trying to destroy themselves with cosmetic surgery and being eaten up with ennui, the agony of choice. They’re forced to buy their adventures. But when you live life without money, the adventure is all part of the deal – it’s thrown in for free.

What do you see as the greatest success in your life?
I was listed as one of the world’s 100 important designers by Taschen Verlag publishing house. Now, I don’t regard that in itself as the greatest success in my life, but it does acknowledge the success of my company. And I think that success in turn is based on my optimistic attitude, which is an essential part of launching a company. A company is like a human being. When it’s active, it’s healthier and delivers better performance. Clothes are made by people, and if people are fascinated by a fashion show and proud of the brand, they’ll contribute more enthusiasm to their tasks.

What was the last time you were really emotionally touched?
When I arrived in Tehran, my birthplace, for the first time in 29 years. The soldiers at the check-out stood up and honored me with almost royal ceremony – they were delighted to welcome someone back who had been away from the country for so long. Hard to believe, but their computer confirmed that the last time I’d been there was 1977. I was escorted to my car by a bodyguard – I can’t imagine what the crowd behind me thought of that.

What’s your next objective?
The hamansutra Collection is in progress. It’s not an easy task, with or without an investor.
My aim and hope is that investors in hamansutra are able to allow the success of hamansutra to develop on the basis of creativity; that instead of taking shareholder value as a benchmark, they accept unique creativity as the gold standard and give hamansutra scope to develop on that basis.

CODE therefore is a contemporary fashion magazine with clear opinions on what is interesting about fashion and how it can be shown. With a love for and understanding of what’s happening ‘on the streets’, but as interested in young designers or ready to wear. Fashion reality right now anyhow is a pretty blurred affair. Nothing wrong with that.

Published quarterly, CODE has a circulation of 22,000 and is distributed in the Netherlands, Belgium, Tokyo and Paris.

Code is not an urban lifestyle magazine.

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