Keyvan Khosrovani
Keyvan Khosrovani | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Keyvan Khosrovani 29 July 1938 |
| Nationality | Iranian-French |
| Alma mater | Beaux-Arts de Paris University of Tehran |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Inn of Nain Villa Farmanieh Kanoon Library |
| Projects | Royal Haute Couture Collection Preservation of Oudlajan |
Keyvan Khosrovani (in Persian: کیوان خُسرُوانی) is an Iranian architect, designer and couturier, born in Tehran - Iran, in 1938. He resides in Paris. Having studied in the United States, Iran, France, and Italy, he has a diverse international education.
He began his architectural studies in 1957 at the University of Berkeley in the United States. After a year, due to his desire to live in his homeland, he returned to Iran. In 1962, he completed his studies with a high-level master's degree in architecture from the University of Tehran, under the direction of Houshang Seyhoun. Then, thanks to a French government scholarship, he studied for two years at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1965, he collaborated with British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry on the University of Sheffield project. Then, in 1966, he completed a one-year specialization course in the conservation and restoration of historical monuments, offered by UNESCO, at the University of Architecture in Rome.
After returning to Iran in 1966, he participated in the first Shiraz - Persepolis Festival of Arts. He was the lighting designer for the illumination of Persepolis and Hafezieh and the designer of the amphitheaters for the festival. His deep respect for Iranian culture led him to promote Persian classical music for Iranian television, providing the channel with nine solo concert programs by Iranian artists as a volunteer producer.
Due to his interest in preserving traditional Iranian crafts, he spent several years working on the revitalization of traditional weaving in Iran; Isfahan silk, "Oskou" (the weaving technique), "Qalamkar" (fabric printing), "Cheshmé douzi" of Isfahan, and "Souzan douzi" (embroidery) of Baluchistan.
The result of this particular attention was that, for 13 years, he was the creator pro bono, volunteer, and unpaid, of the official wardrobe of Empress Farah Pahlavi and the royal family, playing an essential role in the revival of Iranian crafts and fabrics. As Keyvan Khosrovani himself stated in one of his interviews: "this achievement would not have been possible without the will of the Empress of Iran." He managed to elevate them to the level of his creations for Royal Exclusive Haute Couture.
At the same time, he opened his own boutiques, "Number One" and "Miss Number One," through which he revolutionized the style of the young Iranian generation.
In 1999, four of his creations for the Empress of Iran were donated by him to the Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la ville de Paris, as part of the museum's permanent collection.
However, throughout his professional career, he also worked on and played a role in several architectural projects. One of his architectural projects is the "Mehmansaray-e-Naïn" (in Persian: مهمانسرای نائین), which was built in 1967 in the city of Nain at the request of the Ministry of Tourism. In 1969, he also voluntarily designed and built a library for the Kanoun-e-Parvaresh Fekri Koudakan va Nojavanan [the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents] in the Gowd-e-Zanbourk Khouneh neighborhood (a popular area in Tehran). In addition to these projects, he had designed a family villa in the Farmanieh neighborhood in Tehran for his own family, which was destroyed after the Islamic Revolution.
Since moving to Paris in 1978, a year before the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Khosrovani has continued his cultural activities to promote Iranian heritage. During his exile, he agreed to contribute voluntarily as an architect to the "Persian Shabestan" project in the Great Mosque of Paris (a historical monument from 1924), at the request of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.