Exploring entrepreneur has eyes on Iran

ONE of Missy Saleeba’s passions is travelling – in particular to less visited and more unknown parts of the world.

Gordon resident Ms Saleeba has travelled to Iran eight times in the past four years. She loves the culture, hospitality, the people, the richness of the history and the arts.

So on returning from her third trip she asked herself – what can I do to be working with these people?

Ms Saleeba, who studied fine art, interiors and worked with artists, and her Iranian business partner Pouria Zoughi started their import business Dyad Artisans 18 months ago.

“We wanted our business to be about exploring the unexpected as well, so bringing back atypical homeware and art works rather than Persian rugs,” said Ms Saleeba.

On the first buying trip Ms Saleeba and Mr Zoughi met people from Iranian heritage and cultural organisations who were able introduce them to local artisans.

Australians well versed in the arts, craft and design sector have also introduced them to Iranian counterparts.

The resurgence of artisanal work is a feature of the products they import.

“We don’t just sell a product we tell the story of the artist and the makers, highlighting the culture of young contemporary Iran,” said Ms Saleeba.

The story about a piece is its provenance.

Ms Saleeba takes pains to tell her clients an item wasn’t mass-made by women or child workers in appalling unethical condition.

Instead she might tell the tale of a piece of pottery being made by women in the village who have been making the same type of pottery for 7000 years.

When talking about the brass trays they import from Iran, used to serve “beautiful jewelled rice with saffron, sour cherries and barberries” she said, “We are peeling back the layers and showing [our clients] how diverse Iran really is and the people are who live there and their traditions.”

Australians imported merchandise worth $44,458 million from Iran in 2017.

It was a struggle at first to establish Dyad Artisans.

There wasn’t much information about how to import products from Iran.

A lot of insurance business are owned by American companies and because of American sanctions that target Iran Ms Saleeba spent time and a little more money to find a non-American insurer who would take the risk.

“You can’t use credit cards in Iran because Visa and Mastercard are American companies however having an Iranian business partner with bank accounts in the country allowed us access to buy product.”

The biggest cost for the business is air freight, however with volumes increasing it is close to switching to container freight.

“This will give us an opportunity to bring in larger pieces of pottery, metalware and furniture as we would like to develop working with interior decorators on hotels and hospitality fit outs.”

Collaboration between artists of both countries is also a part of the business set for development and growth.

Recently Victorian artist Jessie Stanley created a screen print now being further developed by Iranian artist Mehran Zamani ultimately for production as a limited edition set of prints.

Ms Saleeba has visions of Iranian artists running workshops, Australian artists attending residencies and collaborative exhibitions in both or either countries.

The time she now spends in Iran is so different to what she expected or the little she knew of the country on her first trip.

“I’ve lost a husband and lost some friends and life is short, but I love people and interior design and art and artists and travel so it made sense to put them all together.”