A Shared Silence - Collective

A Shared Silence

Collective biography:

We are Iranian jewelry artists who are connected to Idar-Oberstein — a place many of us have come to call home - at least for a while. As students and graduates of the Idar-Oberstein Campus Gemstones and Jewellery, our personal, academic, and professional journeys have been shaped here. Iran is not distant or abstract to us. The developments in our home country resonate deeply within our works. Between cultural origin and new surroundings, hybrid forms emerge. Traditional symbols are not reproduced; they are transformed, broken, and reassembled. Identity appears as fluid, constantly negotiated between past and future, between belonging and separation.

A Shared Silence brings together the works of ten Iranian jewellery artists shaped by displacement, loss, and repression. Their creations exist between memory and presence, closeness and distance, hope and despair. Jewellery becomes a space for reflection and a way to give form to what cannot be spoken. Fragile materials and broken forms reflect vulnerability and the search for stability. From a distance, artists remain connected to ongoing conditions, carrying a sense of tension and uncertainty. Through careful work, the fragmented is gathered, expressing resilience, dignity, and persistence in a quiet but powerful way.

Shahin Sahafipour

Bio

Shahin Sahafipourfard is a contemporary jeweler and designer from Isfahan, Iran. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and is currently pursuing his Master’s studies in Gemstone and Jewelry at Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein in Germany.

Before his academic studies in Germany, he worked as a freelance designer in the field of jewelry, gaining practical experience in making and developing jewelry pieces. His current practice focuses on establishing meaningful connections between concepts, materials, and contemporary jewelry, exploring how concepts can be translated and expressed through wearable forms.

Statement

When, in the most critical moment of your life, your worth — both to yourself and to another — cannot be measured against anything material, that is when the footsteps of love begin to be heard.

Worth - necklace 2026

acrylic colour,glue,obsidian,rice,thread

Nioosha Vaezzadeh

Nioosha Vaezzadeh Angoshtarsaz is a jewellery maker. Born in Germany and raised in Iran, she first studied restoration and conservation of historical buildings in the University of Cultural Heritage inTehran, where she gained a deep understanding of historical objects and traditional techniques. She later expanded her practice through graduate studies in Gemstones and Jewellery at Hochschule Trier, earning her Master’s degree in 2024. Drawing from her personal experiences as a woman in Iran’s conservative and religious society, her work reflects on questions of identity, freedom, belonging, and the subtle ways in which social norms shape everyday life. Through contemporary jewellery, she transforms personal narratives into material expressions.

Give this embroidery to my daughter

necklace 2025,stone, polyster,cotton

Vesal Bahmani Nik

Bio

Vesal Bahmani Nik is an Iranian visual artist, based in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. She started her fine art education in Art university of Tehran, focused on Painting, BFA graduated in 2012. At the same time on her personal interest, working as a creative designer at Genus Jewelry co. in Tehran; A work experience which has changed her life path to 3 years of gold-smiting and craft education by 2015. The Idea to make her art and craft skills meeting in a point brought the contemporary jewelry world to the light, led her to Idar-Oberstein, Trier university of applied science, department of Gemstone and Jewelry, to study her MFA, graduating in 2018. Currently, she works as stone carver and sculptor in Idar-Oberstein alongside her visual journey.

Statement

"In my work I study the origins and consequences of bodily pain, exploring its physical and psychological effects. Additionally, I investigate historical and modern theories surrounding pain, viewing it as both internal and external. My personal experiences with pain drive my desire to communicate its social and political dimensions, as seen in art's depiction of suffering throughout history. Communicating pain is a way to empower ourselves and protest against destiny, which has been prepared by powers in social, religious and political forms."

Pegah vedad

Bio

Pegah Vedad (b. 1993) is an Iranian artist working in sculpture, contemporary jewelry, and interdisciplinary art. She holds a B.A. in Industrial Design from the Art University of Tehran and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts from Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, Germany. She lives and works in Germany.

Statement

They are small,

each with a little treat in hand,

yet something inside them never rests.

every taste promises the next,

what they seek lies beyond mouth and hand,

something even they themselves don’t know.

Insatiable - Object 2022 Polymer Clay

Sara Heidari

Bio:

Sara Heidary is a contemporary jewelry artist, goldsmith, enamel artist, and watchmaking specialist based in Germany. Her work explores themes of identity, freedom, memory, and resilience, often using textiles and unconventional materials to challenge social narratives surrounding the body, gender, and personal choice. Originally from Iran, She combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary artistic approaches. She specializes in goldsmithing, hand-rendered jewelry design using gouache, enameling, and watchmaking. Her artistic practice is deeply influenced by personal experiences, cultural heritage, and the relationship between adornment and social structures.

Statement:

Sara Heidary uses fabric as a primary medium to challenge societal norms and explore themes of identity, equality, and personal freedom. By transforming a material historically associated with control, conformity, and prescribed roles into contemporary jewelry, she reclaims it as a symbol of empowerment, resilience, and self-expression. Each piece pays tribute to the strength and perseverance of women throughout history and acknowledges their ongoing struggle for autonomy, visibility, and equality. Rather than serving solely as adornment, her jewelry functions as a form of visual storytelling—a narrative of resistance and transformation that invites reflection on social structures, cultural expectations, and the boundaries of personal freedom.

Necklace, 2024, Silver, Stone , Textile

Bahareh Arian

Bio

Bahareh Arian is an Iranian artist and jewelry designer. She studied Art and Craft at the Art University of Tehran, where she earned her Bachelor's degree. Following her graduation, she worked professionally as a goldsmith. In 2020, she moved to Germany to continue her studies in the Department of Gemstones and Jewelry at Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, where she completed a Master of Fine Arts (MFA). Her work explores themes of memory, obstacles, and cultural narratives, often drawing inspiration from Persian literature and personal experiences.

Statement

Obstacle is a physical, mental, or social force that shapes human experience. Rather than seeing barriers only as sources of suffering, the works question how perception defines them. Through compression, tension, and fragile connections, the pieces translate inner resistance into material form. The body becomes both carrier and witness of pressure, endurance, and transformation.

Threshold

Neckless Basalt,silver, jasper, cotton 2023

Mana Jahangard

Bio

Mana Jahangard  studied Industrial Design at the Art and Architecture University in Tehran, Iran. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she pursued professional training in jewellery making. She later moved to Germany, where she earned her Master’s degree in Gemstones and Jewellery from Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, graduating in 2022. Her practice includes jewellery, photography, and video art.

Statement

It is summertime, and the day is warm. I walk into an ice cream shop and choose my favorite flavors: yogurt and dark chocolate. I already know how wonderful it will taste; the memory of it is familiar to me. After finishing my ice cream, I feel the need for a glass of water. The water washes away the sweetness lingering in my mouth and refreshes me. It is a pleasant feeling—not because I did not enjoy the ice cream, but because I needed the water to clear away what remained of its sweetness.

My visit to the ice cream shop is only one of countless memories I carry throughout my life. Memory shapes who we are and gives structure to our personal stories, yet it is never fixed or permanent. Like taste, it fades, is washed away, and leaves only traces behind. This tension between presence and disappearance lies at the heart of our experience. At the end, aren’t we all just a memory that we can’t even remember?

Hidden memory

Necklace 2022 Lapis Lazuli, rock Crystal, silver, shibuichi

Farnoosh Abdoli

Bio

Farnoosh Abdoli is an Iranian jewelry artist and designer with over a decade of professional experience. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, she brings a structured and research-oriented approach to her practice. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Gemstones and Jewelry at Trier University of Applied Sciences in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Her earlier works were informed by Persian ornamental traditions, incorporating Iranian motifs and materials such as brass, silver, mirror, and enamel. Rather than reproducing traditional forms, she developed this visual language through abstraction and contemporary reinterpretation. Over the course of her career, Farnoosh has moved toward contemporary jewelry as a conceptual and critical field. Human and social concerns have consistently remained central to her work, addressing themes such as identity, perception, memory, and the relationship between the body and its surrounding environment.

Statement:

My recent works explore the threshold between dream and nightmare, and the shifting relationship between consciousness and the unconscious. I am interested in how these states overlap—how the conscious mind attempts to define experience while deeper, less visible layers continue to influence it. Rather than presenting fixed meanings, the pieces operate within a space of tension: visibility and concealment, material presence and psychological depth. Certain elements appear clear and tangible, while others remain partially hidden, suggesting the layered structure of inner experience.

Dream tunnels

Necklace 2025 Silver, polymer resin

Rezvan Hajian

Bio

Rezvan Hajian Hosseinabadi is a jewelry artist and engraver originally from Iran. She holds a BA in Materials Engineering from Azad University of Isfahan (2010–2014) and an MA in Gemstones and Jewelry from Hochschule Trier, Germany (2023–2025). She received second-grade certifications in Persian Toreutics and Handmade Jewelry from the Iran Technical and Vocational Training Organization (TVTO), and was an active member of the Isfahan Handicrafts Union from 2014 to 2022. In 2014, she established her own jewelry business. Since 2022, she has worked in the jewelry industry in Dubai as a production coordinator and is currently working in Germany as a goldsmith.

Statement

Rezvan Hajian Hosseinabadi is an artist whose narrative is shaped by the challenge of breaking boundaries formed within a conservative society and a male-dominated toreutics environment in Iran. Trained under a traditional master–apprentice system grounded in silence, obedience, and repetition, she gradually experienced both her body and mind becoming confined within rigid structures. Through a contemporary reinterpretation of tradition, she engages in the experimentation and development of new material practices, creating a dialogue between past and present. The result is a deeply personal exploration through which she redefines identity, the body, and the boundaries of creative.

Fereshteh ( Angel )

Necklace 2025, Sterling Silver_ Carved quartz stone, coated with iron oxide

Sharareh Aghaei

Bio: 

Sharareh Aghaei was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently lives and works in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. She began her academic training at the Art University of Tehran, where she studied Art and Craft and obtained her Bachelor’s degree. Following her graduation, she worked professionally as a freelance goldsmith. In March 2013, she continued her studies at Hochschule Trier, Campus Idar-Oberstein, in the Department of Gemstones and Jewellery. During her studies, she expanded her academic and artistic experience through an exchange semester at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence, Italy. In July 2017, she completed her Master of Fine Arts at Campus Idar-Oberstein. Since graduating, she has been working as a stone carver and jewellery maker.

Statement:

Precious Stones are limited substances from the nature resources, which has been extensively extracted by the modern manufacturing. Among all these stones getting exploited, the high fashion and jewellery industry is the biggest consumer of these precious stones, of course selected among the ultimate quality. It means the stones with natural characteristics such as inclusions, mini lines or cracks which are not even visible with unaided eyes, will be categorized unqualified or literally as gangue, therefore a large amount of rough rocks would end up in leftover piles and sadly considered as trash. Most of the stones used in the pieces I have created in this collection, are done by this not more usable material, collected from different carving companies, stone workshops, or artists’ remains, to upcycle and give them another chance to show their forgotten beauty.

Dance

Brooch 2024 Onyx, Rock crystal, steel, cement, Pigment, Epoxy resin, stainless-steel