It’s no secret that Iranian women are a force to be reckoned with…
So get ready to meet your latest rising star, the super-talented female entrepreneur and jewelry designer: Lisa Nik.
Previously, Executive Vice President of RC for luxury jewelry line Roberto Coin, where she worked for over a decade, the multilingual Lisa–she is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Persian, and English–is a graduate of NYU and GIA certified.
As she expands her business and brand (simply named: Lisa Nik), we got a chance to sit down with the part-time snowboarder for a quick chat. Continue Reading
Last summer, we covered a case in which a juror was removed for making slurs about Isaac Larian’s ethnicity, the Jewish, Iranian-born CEO of MGA, maker of Bratz, calling Iranians: “rude” and “thieves” who have “stolen other person’s [sic] ideas,” during a legal battle between Mattel and Barbie.
District Judge Stephen Larson chose to oversimplify the hate-filled remarks made during trial deliberations in 2008, and at the time, concluded (without any mention of himself): “Although the remarks offended and upset several of the jurors, the remarks did not, in any way, affect or influence the decision made by the jury.”
Despite the efforts of the Anti-Defamation League, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), the Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF), and the Iranian American Bar Association (IABA)–who all joined MGA and Larian in appealing the case with Mattel–Larson granted Mattel ownership of Bratz dolls.
“IABA joined in the amicus filing to the Ninth Circuit on the issue of juror bias against Mr. Larian, which went to the very issue being litigated—namely that all Iranians are ‘thieves’. Based on its potential impact on Iranian-Americans and their equal treatment under the law, this issue was of great importance to us as a Bar Association, and of course to our members.” IABA representative, Salman Elmi tells Persianesque Magazine.
Check out Persiansque Magazine’s exclusive interview with Jimmy Vestvood: He dishes on his life as a Private Investigator, son, and now…Sexiest Persian Alive.
PERSIANESQUE MAGAZINE: With great thanks for joining us for this interview, how does it feel to be voted “The Sexiest Persian Alive”?
JIMMY VESTVOOD: Oh my gosh, supertacular! I esteel can’t believe it. Vow! Who came in 2nd?
PEM: No one. You got 100% of the votes.
JV: Axellent!
PEM: On behalf of all the ladies out there, I need to ask you: Are you single?
JV: Uh…Yes.
PEM: You hesitated.
JV: Vell, okay, I admit, I have been saving myself for Charleez Teron but she is playing a little hard to get, so I tink it is time for me to move on and date odder vomen.
PEM: Charlize Theron, wow, you have great taste in women. Do you have a type?
JV: I am an equal opportoonity sexist. Persian, Amerikan, Escandanavian. Blonde, Broonet, Redhair. Estraight, lesbian, bisexual. I don’t diskriminate. I love vomen. Espeshelly if they have a hot body and know how to cook like my mother.
PEM: Your mother must be a good cook. What’s your favorite dish?
JV: Potatoe tahdeeg and koo-koo sandvich.
PEM: Ummmm! …Are you close to your mother? Do you see her everyday?
JV: I live vith her!
PEM: You mean you don’t have your own bachelor pad?
JV: No, I live vith Maman in an apartment in Vestvood.
PEM: Of course you do, Mr. Jimmy Vestvood! By the way, what’s your real name?
JV: Jamshid Vahedi, but I changed it to Jimmy Vestvood vhen I became a private investeegator.
DC-grown Rostam Batmanglij’s indie-rock-band, Vampire Weekend (and some photographer) are being sued for more than $2Million.
Kirsten Kennis, a model whose image–allegedly taken in 1983–was used for the band’s “Contra” album cover art, filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court on Wednesday, questioning the legality of a “photographic release” obtained by the band. Continue Reading
Works by Taravat Talepasand: L to R, The Story of Shirin and Farhad (2006), Regal Splendour (2009)
She had us at first glance!
San Francisco-based Iranian-American artist, Taravat Talepasand, has the ability to create the kind of art that makes you incapable of passing by her pieces without feeling the need to stop and stare–trying to figure out what she’s trying to tell you.
Her aesthetic is not only provocative and sexy…It’s smart! Continue Reading
April 2010–Iranian-born, British-educated artist Mia Jafari has been making a name for herself: Fusing Iranian landscapes with elements of pop art, commodity, culture, and kitsch.
This spring, inspired by Persian carpets and luxurious commodities, Jafari debuts ‘Ladybirds Strawberry Cosmos’, a collection of seductively playful, hand-finished limited edition silk scarves. Jafari invites you to bask in a world where majestic creatures drag Christian Louboutin heels across endless [places] filled with ruby red lipstick and where nocturnal, gem-encrusted birds take nightwatch over enchanted trees dripping with strawberry pink muffins.
A wonderlust of Persian carpet landscapes explode with iconic perfumes, vintage Cartier and luscious cocktails. ‘Ladybirds Strawberry Cosmos’ blends Eastern rhythms with a cosmopolitan sophistication that tantalizes and delights. Mia Jafari unveils her collection with ‘digi-broidery’: an innovative technique coined by the artist to describe a truly unique dimension to her work, where Iranian embroidery meets cutting edge digital print. Through digi-broidery’s hyper-real aesthetic, Jafari pushes new boundaries to create distinctive prints, rich in culturalreference and craftsmanship.
Digi-broidery allows this collection to be worn and handled effortlessly, whilst retaining the intricacy of hand embellishment. Jafari’s scarves are best described as wearable art that dazzle and seduce with their Eastern-harmony-meets-uber-kitsch aesthetic. Ladybirds Strawberry Cosmos [products deliver] the ultimate wow factor to the most minimal ensemble, and with names [like] “Berrypolitian” and “Midnight Mojito,” they are a 2010 must-have for any city girl’s wardrobe.
Nilu Izadi: Untitled 1, Camera Obscura Projection, Beirut, 2010
With the resoundingly successful opening of Reza Derakshani’s first solo show in London at Osborne Samuel Gallery, Janet Rady Fine Art now heads to Dubai for Iranian artist, Nilu Izadi’s “In Camera: Yellow House Beirut” exhibit at the Al Bastakiya Art Fair from March 15th-21st.
Working with the camera obscura, Izadi has transformed the war torn Beirut home of the Barakat family into a work of art.
“We are particularly proud to present at the Bastakiya Art Fair a new body of work by British-born Iranian Photographer, Nilu Izadi.” Quips UK-based gallery owner Janet Rady.
The yellow house has seen Beirut through her grandest and bloodiest turns. Commissioned in 1924 by the Barakat family, the building, designed by Youssef Aftimos in the picturesque French Mandate style, is a work of genius, affording a view onto the street from every room–through windows, verandahs, doorways into windows beyond and onto the city.
At the time of its construction, the building was situated on the outskirts of Beirut, with urban planning the city soon built up. By the time the war started in 1982, the yellow house found itself positioned exactly on the demarcation line which divided East and West. Due to its strategic positioning, facing their enemy to the West, the Christian militia reappropriated the interior spaces and views through to build bunkers and snipers nests.
Representing a valuable step in Beirut’s architectural heritage, this building took on a very different value during the war. The worlds of the architect and sniper were intertwined, the latter taking the building’s exceptional layered vistas as a source for voyeurism, protection and mass murder. The gunmen could nest in the bunker’s dark recesses while commanding the street corner from virtual obscurity. The remaining scars of war left by the billions of bullet marks on the walls are a chilling reminder of the terror of conflict.
Using one of the bullet holes which had pierced the stone walls, I converted one of the rooms of the yellow house into a camera obscura installation bringing the projections of the front line back into the heart of the sniper’s nest. The same aperture which was caused as a result of war is now turning back on itself. Projections of people walk across the mass bullet ridden walls, clouds move silently over the rubble and devastation left by war, images are turned back onto themselves, the outside now looking in.
The exhibition will also feature documentary photographs of the house as it stands today.
The Columbia-educated Persian rocker’s recent appearance on Saturday Night Live (click here to watch the full episode) with host Zach Galifianakis–along with his Vampire Weekend band-mates–is concretely the launching of innumerable and increased industry recognition as well as appearances, ahead of him.
Featured in the January 2010 issue of Vogue Magazine, Rolling Stone Magazine’s Will Dana wrote of Vampire Weekend’s 2008 debut: “The music had a bracing smartness, as overdetermined and detailed as a Wes Anderson movie, almost perfect for what it was, but you wondered how they’d handle the real world.”
Their new album Contra, is: “brainy, confident, and generally awesome.” Dana opines. “The drums are bigger, the guitars are faster, and the songs are outfitted with synth beats and hip-hop, reggae and electro accents.”
Watch The Malloys-directed music video for ”Giving Up The Gun,”–a track off the Contra album–which includes cameos from Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, Lil’ Jon, RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, and Mr. Prince of Persia himself: Jake Gyllenhaal, below.
