Mahnaz: “I think a lot of what one does in life goes back to one's beginnings. I have lived through two revolutions, one in Bangladesh and one in Iran, and they taught me what happens when you lose your cultural base. What is so precious about that? That when you move, you lose something very valuable, which is very specific to itself, which has its own cultural feeders, its own crafts, its own language in the arts, and in a variety of fields. Those experiences shaped my thinking about what was precious and how you must reclaim it.”

Nazzy: “I grew up in a household where my grandmother, who was from Azerbaijan, had the most extraordinary collection of colorful hand-loomed textiles that she'd only display during special occasions. I forgot about them for years when I moved to the US. and then in 2011 I traveled to Bukhara in Uzbekistan which is one of the centers of ikat production. When I saw the handmade textiles, it was shockingly beautiful and a very emotional moment because it was so familiar. Then I realized, “Oh, this is where she got all these fabrics.” I bought everything that I could get hold of. I came back and wasn't sure what to do with them. I designed a few pieces for myself and then the [now former] director of Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Rita Aoun-Abdo, saw me wearing one of them and said she wanted one. That was the beginning of my journey into becoming a designer. I always say I’m an accidental designer!”

Mahnaz: “For me, it didn't have anything to do with a specific object. It just had to do with an experience. Authenticity is important so I want to build collections that I understand in a fundamental way. I've lived in and traveled to so many places, all the while collecting small objects. Jewelry was not something I could do outside my own country, but when I was in Senegal I became obsessed with the little figures and learning all the esoterica. Or if I was in Mali working, I'd take a quick hop to the museum to look at what incredible beauty is created there. The same thing happened to me when I ended up with a home in New Mexico; I absorbed not just a particular kind of jewelry, but the light that permits this kind of jewelry to be made.”

Nazzy: “If you're curious when you travel, you look for history and how people lived in the past—for me, it's better than going to university. Asia specifically gives you that opportunity because there's such a long history. You just need to look at the tile works or textiles—you don't even need to go to the museum. Take a kimono for example; there's a story and purpose for every design and so much to learn. It's self-education. I don't think I know anything about textiles—I've learned so much but there's so much more to learn. And I love that because I have that curiosity to see more to learn more. It keeps me going—it’s a process that's very rewarding.”

Mahnaz: “Curiosity is absolutely central, otherwise there's no learning. If you're not curious, you cannot learn and you don't step far beyond your home. If you're not curious, you don't end up in the Balogun market outside Lagos or in Soviet Russia looking at the dolls that were made during the various coups. It's all about memory and jewelry is very much about that—where did I get this? What community made it? How much you love the imperfections of hand work, and hand fabrication, you know, where it's truly made by hand. You can't, unless you're curious.”

Nazzy: “I see perfection as a flaw. I once asked a carpet historian, why is it that there is always imperfection in a Persian carpet? They said they do it intentionally because the weavers believe only God is perfect and so they make the imperfection intentionally. So, I've learned that I don't want anything to be perfect. We use textiles that are not perfect because they're all hand-dyed. You know, you see flashes of color all over the fabric and we don't cover them, we don't cut them out, we leave them. And people appreciate that there's a flash of unwanted color. It makes it different and special and it's part of the artistic process.”

Nazzy: “Mahnaz’s collection of Indian American jewelry is breathtakingly beautiful and meaningful. It's a history that you don't see anywhere else, and she's managed to collect that and explain the meaning. That's why I respect Mahnaz for amassing extraordinary collections that I don't think anyone else has. When I saw her Indian American collection, I wanted to buy everything. She opened my eyes to something so beautiful and the connection of turquoise, because I'm originally Iranian and in Persian culture it has a special meaning because so much of the country in terms of geography is desert and turquoise represents water. I was shocked to see that Indian Americans also appreciate turquoise. For me, it was two cultures connecting somewhere and it was a very good lesson, and I'm so thankful to Mahnaz to opening my eyes to appreciate something that was right around the corner in the US and I was so negligent about.”

Mahnaz: “The funny thing about Nazzy’s work is that my second great passion is textiles. If I hadn't been a jewelry person, I would have ended up, perhaps, in textiles. But right now, I like to just pile them up. I'm always wearing Nazzy’s clothes, I love the Uzbek fabrics, I love the embroidery, and I love the slight eccentricity of them. These days, I'm loving the pinstripe kaftans she's doing because they're so feminine, but they're really office-y. They're kind of workwear-gone-Queen-of-Sheba and I like to think that some of my jewelry is also that combination of things.”

Nazzy: “I have to quote a very famous Iranian filmmaker and poet Abbas Kiarostami, who passed away a few years ago. He said that we, as artists, should focus on common points and similarities of different cultures and humans. Dividing is the politician's job. That's their job to divide people, to focus on divisions. And once I learned that lesson, I found so many similarities in different cultures that I've visited. And I think Mahnaz has the same thing… it’s like our umbilical cord to our culture.  Maybe in a direct or unconscious way we're all looking for our own identity, and along the way we discover another culture who shares the same identity with us. I think that's the beauty of Mahnaz Collection. Because she discovers other identities that are beautiful, more emotional, more meaningful, and they connect us all together.”

Nazzy: "I think one of the biggest lessons I learned was from one of my first editors who was a very experienced, seasoned editor. When I started my work, he told me when you are covering the story, try to understand it, because if you don't understand it you cannot tell it. That lesson, I apply to every aspect of my life. If I don't understand the food, how can I cook and offer it to my friends? If I don't understand the spirit of this fabric, how can I explain it to my clients? That's why I travel and spend time with the weavers, the people who dye the fabrics, and even the suppliers. This is this an important part of my work: learn the story and tell ity to our clients and create something that transfers good energy.”

Mahnaz: "I've been given so much advice from so many people, even when I didn't realize it. My grandmother, for example, was a tough woman and she would always come to me and say, ‘whatever you do, be a lady,’ and what she meant by that is that you can be very tough and negotiate very hard, but never be cruel to anyone; always be polite, and always be kind.”