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The concept of hand crafted clothing started when as teenagers Nima and his friends would take Levis Jeans and other garments and draw, write and alter them to their taste. Some of these items were obtained in the black market ,due to the trade regulations on western products, thus making it harder and more expensive to continue such experiments. The place was Tehran, and its northern suburbs, where a large middle class had settled in; the time period was during the late 80's shortly after the war had ended.
Nima began, wearing what he was buying and altering, to the parties that took place in the underground scene of Northern Tehran. This became not only an outlet of youthful energy, but also a platform for experimentation. During this time Nima had paired with another friend who was just as interested in fashion, Mamasaid, who had been given that street-name by other kids in their neighborhood. These two started crashing parties and squeezing their way into as many social settings as they could, just to show off their work. Not having any formal training in fashion design or consistent supply of material, they used what was available and incorporated them into their fabrics, items such as spray paint, studs, stitches, pins and etc.
A few years later Nima and most of his friends, including Mamasaid had left Iran, and what was a large group of friends, had now been scattered around the world. Nima moved to California and after few years moved to New York City to study fashion and Mamasaid went to Tokyo. In New York, Nima continued with his passion for design and the garments industry. After arriving in the East Coast he recognized that there is whole lot more in fashion and design, and the formal training and knowledge of classical styles, can further expand one's vision.
Nima enrolled in Fashion Institue of Technology (FIT) and restarted his experimentations on fabric, where he had left off years earlier in Tehran. He began an experiment that proved to be a key element for his future designs. That is mixing elements of the old world and drawing them onto a modern canvas. This was the printing of Persian motifs and stamps onto stretched canvases and drawing around them. But soon Nima found the canvas of an artist stretched around a frame is limiting for him, since he did not have the patience of waiting for someone to allow him a show at an art gallery. This was the cause for the return to an old hobby, print and draw onto T-shirts and wear them to elite parties, similar to what was done in Tehran, but instead it was in New York City the fashion hub of North America.
By expanding on that same idea by 2004 a production team was put together and the first series of NIMANY T-shirts were produced. This process included hand picking the garments at various stores and vintage shops, opening and re-stitching the cuts, dying the colors through a chemical process and silk screening quotes of Persian poets such as Hafez and Rumi. By stacking poems and graphics on top of each other, new gripping patterns were created; patterns that did not state any particular literal message, rather displaying the beauty of Persian typography on a garment. This first line sold out immediately and was a motivating factor for Nima to design new styles. At the same time his old friend Mamasaid who had relocated to the U.S joined him and began helping him with the NIMANY line.
Today the two are involved with every aspect of production that a piece of garment goes through, and they maintain an m.o that is important to them, which is to keep each garment individual, thus the owner of each work holds one unique piece. Today celebrities such as Heidi Klum, Nicky Hilton, Jim Carrey, Praz Micheal of Fugees and Kevin spacy wear these T-Shirts and major publications including Vogue, Maxims, New York Times have written about NIMANY.
Ericsson Silver
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