ARDAZAEI IS WHERE PERSIAN HERITAGE, SCANDINAVIAN MODERNISM, FRENCH METIERS D’ART AND SAVOIR-FAIRE COLLIDE
Photographed by Paolo Roversi
ArdAzAei was founded by the Swedish Iranian designer Bahareh Ardakani togehter with her fiancé Johannes Falk and made its debut in Paris in 2022. Shortly after, the Maison established its couture atelier at 11, rue Saint Florentin, Paris. Since 2023 ArdAzAei has been invited as a guest member of Paris Haute Couture Week by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.
Persian Heritage
Persian cultural heritage and ancient deep care for nature is an integral part of Bahareh Ardakani´s creations: vibrant colors; geometric and floral patterns; luxurious organic silk fabrics, and intricate embroidery. These influences form her design universe where memory and heritage dissolve into something entirely new — an alchemical transformation.
Bahareh Ardakani’s cultivates elegance on exploring the meaning created by her predecessors and how every life builds upon other lives. Throughout ArdAzAei - the fusion of the family names of Bahareh's father (ARDkani)and mother reZAEI)- is the embodiment thereof: artifacts care created, and principles are built that ultimately exceed, beautify and further cultivate what others before having discovered and developed. Her DNA.
Scandinavian Modernism
Scandianvian Modernism is the power of silence—restraint, clarity, precision as a form of beauty echoing with the Maison´s care for nature. The seasonless approach is like an endless voyage at North Sea, pushing forward, pulling back to the point of departure. A continuous timeline, slowly carved by time, material, and intention. Scandinavian legacy is rooted in values: reverence for craft, obsession with detail, commitment to responsibility, and pursuit of spirit. These are woven into every ArdAzAei garment and reborn through innovation.
French Savoir-Faire
French savoir-faire turned Ardakani’s journey into seduction. As a trained design engineer driven by science, problem solving and mathematics, Ardakani started her journey to transform contradiction into art. ArdAkani learned couture techniques from French artisans andthis knowledge became a vessel for those stories that never fade, myths solidifying into matter. Through savoir-faire, texture of fabrics, the weight of drape, the rhythm of each seam, every piece transmits a message deeply rooted in French heritage.
Care of Nature
ArdAzAei never compromises on quality, and as such the Maison’s couture collections are made in its Paris atelier, andin close collaboration with French living heritage companies.
ArdAzAei’s prêt-à-porter collections are produced in EPV-certified (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant) ateliers in France, ensuring verifiable origin.
ArdAzAei’s shoes, small leather goods and knitwear are crafted in Italian specialized artisanal ateliers.
ArdAzAei became certified in 2022according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (certified by Ecocert Greenlife 257263).
ArdAzAei selected to comply with the GOTS standardsince it is the leading international certification for organic textiles, encompassing ecological and socio-ethical criteria across the entire production chain—not only the fabrics used, but the final product itself.
ArdAzAei and each approved product undergo rigorous due diligence, ensuring that every stage—from raw fiber to finished garment—meets strict environmental and social criteria, verified by independent auditors. The Maison insists on its transparency and sustainability claims to be audited by independent certification bodies.
In gemology Bahareh discovered a new way of seeing. The microscopic study of the inner structure of the gem exposes the beauty that is reflected in its outer gloss. Withoptics the inner world isbeingopened - the hidden dimension of beauty, thatisreflected in the gem’s surface.
ArdAzAeitransfersthisopticinto fashion creation. The wholeecosystem of the process of creation: the natural conditions of the materials and the meticulousness of the manufacturing, the skill and sensibility of craft, the imagination and intelligence in the design, the endeavor in work, the social dimension of creativity. In short:the care.
The seeing into the gem confronts us with the incomprehensible eternal time that is gathered in its interior. This is the encounter with the sublime and beauty beyon seasons. The sublime awakens the human’s ability to imagine that which transcends all sensible scales. These two ideas are connected: ArdAzAei grounds the beauty of itsgarments on the care that by intersubjectivity and endless endeavor transcends the individual carrier and places her in thedimension of eternity.When a woman wears and ArdAzAei piece, she is writing her own myth. The ArdAzAei woman does not consume "seasons". She preserves her pieces from different collections and brings them together as living parts in different constellations. In this way, ArdAzAei offers an eternal collection, and the carrier is the creator of temporary constellations. In this way, the wearer actively connects herself to the universe.
"The more we discover the of nature, the more of ourselves"
Hilma af Klint, Swedish painter (1862–1944)
Photographed by Clara Belleville
“Every detail is precious. This is why ArdAzAei works with France’s most esteemed craftspeople to construct our couture and why we place so much focus on collaborating with Europe’s most knowledgeable textile suppliers to develop our own fabrics and have them certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard, the most exacting assessment of sustainability within the industry. As true beauty comes from within, and I want everyone who wears ArdAzAei to feel radiant.”—Bahareh Ardakani