ABOUT DR. MOJGAN JAHANARA
PROFESSOR AND RESEARCHER IN ASIAN MOTIF DESIGN
Mojgan was born in Hamedan, Iran. She moved to Teheran, to complete her Textile Design BA in 1994, and that was the beginning of the long art journey in her life.
Textile design courses were the ideal field to lead her interest onto the study of “motifs”.
Later, getting Japanese scholarships to complete her higher education and to get her Master’s and PhD degrees created the opportunity for her to focus further on the study of motifs and forms. She was even more fortunate to do her PhD under the directorship of Professor Kohei Sugiura, one of the greatest scholars of Asian design studies in the world.
Mojgan started her professional career as a teacher and textile department chair in 2003 at the University of Art in Tehran. It was a new beginning for her to pursue working on motifs and forms. She did a lot of research and organised numerous programmes with her students and fellow scholars. Mojgan’s work can be divided into two parts: theoretical study and creation of new designs.
Her main focus and field of study has been the “Tree of Life” and gardens. This linked theme has had several representations in Asian design and art over the centuries. It is one of the most important /significant from old times to the present.
In October of 2016 she was invited to have an exhibition and Master Class at the KKG Gallery, entitled the “ The Garden of Life – Tree of Life”, in Penang, and a year later, in 2017 Mojgan returned to Penang to the KKG Gallery for another exhibition with the same theme.
Her long journey of working with motifs took her to different parts of Asia, and specifically to Japan, India and Iran. Since her first encounter with Japan, as a student and until this day, she has worked, taught and done research there, in various academic institutions.
Teaching
Visiting Professor at IICD Jaipur, India. Textile & Fashion Programme, January – April 2020.
Visiting Professor at IIT Kanpur, India, Design Programme, September – November 2019.
Researcher at the Research Institute of Asian Design RIAD, Kobe Design University, Japan.
Head of the Iranian Design – Asian Design research group, Iranian Academy of Art.
Fellow of Japan Foundation at Asian Design Institute (RIAD) of Kobe Design University (KDU),
Japan July 2018 to February 2019.- Lecturer, University of Art, Tehran, Iran 2003 – 2012.
Chair of the Textile Design Department, University of Art, Tehran, Iran. Iran 2003 – 2010.
Fellow of Japan Foundation at Asian Design Institute (RIAD) of Kobe Design University (KDU),
Japan 2012.
Japan Foundation Cultural Adviser in Iran, 2010.
Cooperator researcher with the Institute of Asian Design (RIAD) at Kobe Design University (KDU),
Japan. Adviser of the Asian Department in Traditional- Ritual Performance Seminar and Festival,
Tehran.
Seminars and Conferences
- Napoli University, Italy 2006, Persian Design
- Montagone Foundation, Italy 2006, Presentation of Iranian Textile
- Almaty Fine Art Museum, Kazakhstan 2008, A day speech and workshop on Iranian Felt
- Kobe Design University, Japan 2008, A speech on the Tree of Life in Iranian Culture
- Shiga Prefecture University, Japan 2008. Natural elements in Persian Gardens
- Mahatma Gandhi University Wardha 2009, The colours of white and black in Nezami ‘s Haftpelkar
- Sacred Art Festival, New Delhi 2010, Sound of white in Sufi art.
- IIT, Mumbai, India 2010, White and black.
- Kobe Design University, Japan, 2010, Nakhl in Ashura, Evergreen Nakhl.
- The Iranian Academy of Art, Tehran, Iran 2007,The Eastern culture in Iranian and Japanese art.
- The Iranian Academy of Art, Tehran, Iran 2009, Design and Space in Japanese Ukiyo E, (Persian)
- Kobe Design University, Japan 2010, Persian costume.
- Traditional-Ritual Seminar, Tehran, Iran, 2013, Introduction into Bugaku
- Traditional-Ritual Seminar, Tehran, Iran, 2015, The meaning of Life and Death, in Japanese and Indonesian Chariots.
- IIT Kanpur, India, April 2016, The research methodology on Asian Design.