• Digital art

I have always found art to be sacred and peaceful. Back in the ’90s, when I was a child, I enjoyed spending time making creative artworks and crafts as well as painting. The more I took part in art workshops, the more I realized how talented I was to create pieces nobody could even imagine.

The very first time when I used Microsoft Paint, I immediately realized that computers are what I need; I found them to be a practical means of creation. In the light of state-of-art technology, I managed to learn the earliest version of 3ds Max to create characters, which I formerly created through drawing or pottery.

Learning Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw was the first step in my professional career as a self-taught illustrator and graphic designer. I started to make money by making architectural presentations via Photoshop and Corel. Meanwhile, as I was teaching Adobe Photoshop to architecture students, I got familiarized with the magic of videos and animations by making several videos for university occasions, and a documentary for an international seminar in Qazvin called “Lost Cities” (2014).

After a while, when I had become more obsessed with 2D animations than illustration and modeling, I started developing my skills and broadening my knowledge in computer graphics, which resulted in cofounding RasaBonyan advertising agency and working as the Creative Director in it.

Since my first experiences with computers, I have always had an intuition about technology to be my future in art and creativity.

• Architecture

My dear older sister, Niloufar Kioumarsi, was my primary source of inspiration in my early architectural life. Witnessing her endeavors in undertaking her art and engineering projects boosted my enthusiasm for architecture. After eight years of experience in this field, I have attained two main design principles: architectural thinking and a logical design attitude.

At first, in the architectural arena, I looked for inventing new presentation methods, and having specific thoughts and concepts was the underlying reason. After collaborating with several architectural firms like PKB and MORPH, I realized that the conventional presentation methods were insufficient and impractical in communicating the concepts of a project. Typically, the final design output is not self-explaining enough, and above all, I have always believed that it is impossible to perceive a designed space through paper sheets.

So, I began practicing animation. I thought of making animated diagrams that are better at conveying information than still illustrations. Furthermore, after spending many years in the advertising industry and social media marketing, I realized that firms need to be active in social media. Thus, I concentrated my experience on inventing a new method of architectural presentation for the first time, which I named “Archimation” since it was an integration of Architecture and Animation. This method provided a better understanding of the design process and proved to be an exciting way of participating in the social media platforms for architects.

•  Music and theater

Music is an inseparable part of my life. Everything began in 1997 when I was four years old, and my family gifted me a tiny Keyboard for my birthday. I soon developed a keen interest in music and other fields of art and started to learn to play the piano by listening and playing for hours. Music enabled me to communicate with others with a language other than the verbal language.

Due to my interest in music, I tried several other instruments like Classical Guitar, Percussions, Flute, Melodica, Dulcimer, and Setar (a traditional Persian instrument). I learned many songs and performed on several stages.

During my study at the university, I had less time to learn and play music. I have always paid my debt to my instruments and my talent in music. Firstly, in 2017, I joined Bel Canto Symphony Orchestra as Bass-baritone singer. After that, in 2019, I sang in “Pardis and Parisa” Opera composed by Loris Tjeknvorian and conducted by Peyman Mansouri held at Vahdat Great Hall, Tehran.

I was intrigued by the stage. I felt a great thirst for learning and understanding the science and techniques of theater and performance. My enthusiasm led to partaking in two musical plays as singer and actor from 2018 to 2019; ‘King Lear’ directed by Masoud Delkhaah at City theater of Tehran and “Corpse Bride” directed by Omidreza Sepehri at Tehran Royal Hall. Next to them, I participated in other projects as a voice actor later in 2019.

•  Here we go!

In conclusion, my life has been full of adventures. These invaluable and inspiring experiences with the greatest directors, actors, and production teams, which are the best in Iran’s theatre and music, have led to discovering the stage, artificial production, and projects on a major scale.

During these years, I have faced many different questions to which I have presented the most functional creative solutions given their circumstances. Meanwhile, I have spent much time discovering and understanding art, and I hope to learn its other aspects in the future.

Soroush Q mar C  / Tehran / 2021

life is the unique stage of our art
everybody sings and leaves
and the stage is always on
how pleasant is that song which people remember

(Zhaleh Isfahani, Persian poet)