MehrNews.com, Iran
Tehran: 18:03 , 2007/09/15

Ehsaii denies permitting sale of clothes bearing his calligraphy

TEHRAN, Sept. 15 (MNA) — Master of calligraphy Mohammad Ehsaii denied
having given permission to the Sudreh Institute to sell clothes
bearing his calligraphy artwork, the Persian service of IRNA reported.

Some news agencies recently announced that the Sudreh Institute,
managed by Saed Meshki, is incorporating the calligraphy of master
Ehsaii into clothes designed to have a distinctive Iranian identity.

Ehsaii said he only gave Meshki permission to use the calligraphy work
on clothes to be presented to guests at the recent Iran Cinema
Celebration ceremony, adding, `The 400 T-shirts made for this event
did not have my signature and I did not give the Sudreh Institute
permission to sell them.’

Saleh Beheshti, who works with the institute’s design team, told the
Persian service of CHN that the first garments produced for sale by
the institute are due to be completed in a couple of months.

He explained that the designs are completely Iranian in style and the
first batch bears one hemistich of Ferdowsi’s poetry in the
calligraphy of the graphic designer Ehsaii.

Beheshti also announced that the first series of the clothes will be
displayed in an exhibit and each design will bear a label on which the
name, date of production and number of the garment has been printed.

According to Beheshti, the production of each design will be limited
to seventy garments.

On the subject of the sale of the products, Beheshti said that they
are accepting orders via internet, `Shops are not suitable outlets for
our products in the initial stages of marketing. We are planning to
identify our customers gradually. Later, we will establish shops and
sell our products in a wider range.’

Beheshti emphasized that they will probably hold exhibits of their
products in Armenia for the Christian New Year and in Dubai at Noruz.

On the choice of the name Sodreh, Beheshti explained, `Sudreh is the
name of a garment which Zoroastrians used to wear from the age of
puberty. Sodrehs were white, with short sleeves and no collar. They
were actually similar in design to today’s T-shirt. We used this name
in order to make young people aware that former generations also made
use of these kinds of garments.’

The production team consistS of graphic designers and several clothes
designers, as well as experts Ahmad Mohit-Tabatabaii, Mohammad
Beheshti, and Marjan Sheikholeslami, he concluded.

RM/MA END MNA