Rhapsody Primary Function: Мончок

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Rhapsody is a hand-crafted fine jewellery designed for today’s most elegant and sophisticated tastes, while it revives the glory of Middle-Eastern cultures and their rich and epic history. It is made by employing traditional techniques and material in Mashhad city in Iran, a destination of Muslim pilgrimage and a center of traditional crafts. Rhapsody is a modern wearable sculpture based on Islamic geometry that is made for anyone who is eager for an elegant and stylish look.

Dimensions & Packaging

Dimension: 175 mm x 160 mm x 45 mm
Material: Silver 925

Tags

Jewelry, jewellery, necklace, art jewelry, art jewellery, geometric jewelry, geometric jewellery, contemporary jewelry, contemporary jewellery, accessories

Production Technology

Design begins with searching through a variety of Islamic geometry sources to select capable patterns to be developed into a novel design. Designing continues with developing irritations through hybrid hands-on and digital process, and then narrowing down sketches and producing mock-ups. The next is trying mock-ups on the human body, collecting feedback from users, and refining the product through a round of revisions. The jewelries are hand-crafted with traditional techniques and material.

Design Challenge

In this project, we encountered two significant challenges. First, we are committed to design jewelleries that are innovative and fresh to a contemporary eye, while they are rooted in history. Tightrope walking and maintaining balance between the past and future is the hardest creative challenge we often encounter. Second complicated challenge we faced was to transform the angular geometry of architectural patterns into a sculptural and wearable form that fits and adorns the human body.

Research

In the first instance, I'm working with patterns and geometry embedded in Islamic architecture and design, which I have grown up surrounding by it, therefore it's organically inherent to my knowledge of design. Over the course of years, I have integrated the vernacular knowledge of Islamic geometry with the contemporary aesthetics and theories. For this project we searched through over 200 different patterns to find one through which we can develop a wearable, innovative, and elegant design.

Inspiration

This project is inspired by Islamic geometric patterns that have evolved over centuries in the Middle East and North Africa. The sculptural folds and ruffles recall the vicissitudes of history and life of these people, where its glory and beauty is woven together with pain and grief. And its rigidity and cohesion manifest the strength, richness and glory of a culture and people that have been hardened through conflicts and invasions and have been invincibled with the power of love and beauty.

Project Duration

This project started in February 2020 in Mashhad, Iran and the first sample produced in December 2020. A' Design Award & Competition will be the premiere introduction of this product to the world.

Operation Flow

Influenced by the Middle-Eastern cultural pride and growing tendencies towards revisiting the heritage, in Arash Raad Design, we are dedicating our effort to create products that fulfills both the dignity of a rich culture, and the elegance of today. We believe “Rhapsody” conveys authenticity and novelty at the same time. To aim this goal, we combined vernacular knowledge and traditional tools and material with contemporary aesthetics and theories.

Image Credits

Image #1:Photographer Mojtaba Mohammadi, Rhapsody, 2021. Image #2: Photographer Mojtaba Mohammadi, Rhapsody, 2021. Image #3: Photographer Mojtaba Mohammadi, Rhapsody, 2021. Image #4: Photographer Mojtaba Mohammadi, Rhapsody, 2021. Image #5: Photographer Mojtaba Mohammadi, Rhapsody, 2021.
Video: Director Ali Ebrahimi Sani, Rhapsody, 2021.