The creative duo behind The Parvaneh Collection are husband and wife team, Richard and Parvaneh Holloway. They met at the London Central School of Art in 1978 where early mornings and late nights in the college studios saw them helping each other finish projects and realize inventions. 40+ years later, the pair continue to collaborate on beautiful imaginative patterns and decorative design under the name The Parvaneh Collection, established in 2002. When asked about their working relationship you might be met with the exchange of smiles and knowing glances – they know the energy that fuels their partnership is difficult to describe in words, playful and powerful.
Parvaneh’s elegant mastery of two-dimensional pattern work and painting is expanded into three dimensions with Richard’s facility in industrial design. The Collection joins their unique skills, creating beautifully patterned products that have been enhancing people’s lives, homes and personal space for over twenty years – working with such companies as Lenox, Caspari, Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Kurt Adler, Cranston Fabrics, Lady Clare, Toland, Henry Handwork, Inner Beauty, Ceaco Puzzle and Art Evolution.
About Parvaneh and Richard
Richard is an industrial designer best known for his iconic Screwball and Memphis drink-ware glasses (Col. Cooper Hewitt, NYC, Victoria & Albert Museum London and Corning Museum), clever tricky notebooks, and the Royal Society of the Arts awarded HMQ Silver Jubilee Commemorative Medallion and British Royal Family gold and diamond LCD watch. Richard’s seemingly endless imagination challenges limits and explores possibilities while his enthusiasm, joie de vivre and practical mastery of construction launch ideas into reality.
From the time Parvaneh was a child in Iran she was immersed in a cultural tradition of artistry, patterning and craftsmanship. She has drawn inspiration from exquisite Persian miniatures, Persian carpets, marquetry, and the decorative objects and textiles of Bazaars. Parvaneh combines a lifetime of experience in decorative arts with her mastery in painting to develop the whimsical and engaging animals, objects and characters in her designs. Her rich color palettes, lush patterns and imaginative narratives are combined with an enchanting magical realism inviting us to step through the looking glass and explore more of her rich, colorful world.
The pairing of these two artists’ imagination, skill, passion and craftsmanship ignites The Parvaneh Collection’s imaginative strength. Parvaneh and Richard currently live and work from their extensive home studios, enjoying the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York – maintaining a painting and jewelry studio, machine/fabrication workshop and ceramic studio. They continue to push the boundaries of decorative art and product design and are excited to work on new projects in fashion, housewares, furniture, lighting, stationery and textiles, bringing joy and luxury to new markets and venues.