Illuminating Illusion Sculpture

Naz Khorram was born and raised in Iran, a culture that values metalworking since centuries ago during the Persian empire and was influenced vastly by the Islamic art characteristics. She started making beaded jewelry at age 6. Her mother would take her to old and traditional bazaars of her hometown to buy beads and materials. This encouraged her to follow this passion and have solo and group shows in Iran when she was still a teenager. In 2009, she got arrested as a political prisoner during the Green Movement. After she was released, she was forced to move abroad due to the consequences of staying in Iran. From 2010 to 2011 she lived and studied graphic design at University of San Francisco and then moved to Dubai to continue her education at the American University in Dubai. Because of her social, political and religious views, she realized middle eastern countries would never let her be who she is. Naz believes in freedom and peace and human rights, something she, unfortunately, could not find in that part of the world. Therefore, she relocated to San Francisco in 2014 for a better life and decided to peruse her dreams. After finding out Academy of Art University offers a major in jewelry design & metal arts, she immediately started to continue her education in something she always enjoyed. Naz Khorram recently graduated from Academy of Art University. She is now a freelance bench jeweler and metal artist focusing on building her next collection at her studio. One of her current projects is to design a collection for The Speakeasy of San Francisco which focuses on Art Deco movement and jewelry of the 1920s.