# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Middle-East, India & Africa (MEIA) >  The Iranian mastersmith Mr. Farajian passed away: very sad news

## Manouchehr M.

Dear friends,

This is really sad news.  One of the students of Ms. Etezadi who travelled to Zanjan to interview Mr. Farajian on my behalf and take pictures of his new work for my further articles, has informed me in a very sad email, that Mr. Farajian had passed away yesterday.  This is really sad news as he was not only a smith and an artis, but a man deeply interested in philosophy and poetry.  This is really heart breaking.

Some articles on him:

http://persianmirror.com/Article_det...ubCategory=117

http://persianmirror.com/Article_det...SubCategory=94

http://persianmirror.com/Article_det...SubCategory=94

http://persianmirror.com/Article_det...SubCategory=94


I will write more articles about him and his life.  We indeed have lost a great smith in Iran.

Kind regards

Manouchehr Moshtagh Khorasani

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## Greg T. Obach

i'm very sorry to hear this...  that is truly sad news!

my condolences and prayers for the family.

Greg

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## Sancar Ozer

This is also a very sad news for all West Asian sword enthusiasts. :Frown:   authantic swordmakers are so rare in this region and should be protected as national heritage. My deepest condolences for his family and friends. May Allah-u Teala have mercy on him.

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## Jeroen Zuiderwijk

I've greatly admired his work through your articles, and it's sad to hear that we've lost such a great craftsman.

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## Paul Hansen

Very sad news indeed. He was a great craftsman.  :Frown:

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## Doug Mullane

This really is a loss for all people.  I can only imagine what is son is going through.  Manoucher, please let us know if the family needs help financially.

It would have been nice to visit this man and thank him for making beautiful cultural pieces of his country and initiating the privilege of seeing them from afar.

Doug Mullane

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## MumtazB

Very sad news...I will read Fatihah for Haji Hussain Farajian.  My condolences to his son.

Manoucher Jan, I remember for over 5 years I was asking you how I could get one of his swords , sadly that opportunity is now lost . 

Do you have a contact number for his son Manoucher Jan, I would like to call him myself

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## Frank S.

My condolances for the loss of such an artist.  :Frown:

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## Shayan Q.

Indeed, this is a loss for swordsmithing, Iranian heritage, and the world. Ostad Farajian lives on in his legacy of inspired art and and humility. I am glad we were able to see even a fraction of his work through Manouchehr's articles, one can see even in pictures how much love the Ostad put into his art. Condolences and prayers to his family.

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## Manouchehr M.

> i'm very sorry to hear this...  that is truly sad news!
> 
> my condolences and prayers for the family.
> 
> Greg


Thank you my friend for your kind words, I really appreciate your words.  I am sure his family will appreciate a lot that many people send their condolences.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> This is also a very sad news for all West Asian sword enthusiasts.  authantic swordmakers are so rare in this region and should be protected as national heritage. My deepest condolences for his family and friends. May Allah-u Teala have mercy on him.



Thank you very much Sancar for your kind words.  May God have mercy on him but surely he will as Haj Hossein Farajian was such a kind gentleman loved by many people.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> I've greatly admired his work through your articles, and it's sad to hear that we've lost such a great craftsman.


Thanks Jeroen, his work was exceptional, look at how he cast bronze, really nice.  Thanks my friend.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> This really is a loss for all people.  I can only imagine what is son is going through.  Manoucher, please let us know if the family needs help financially.
> 
> It would have been nice to visit this man and thank him for making beautiful cultural pieces of his country and initiating the privilege of seeing them from afar.
> 
> Doug Mullane



Doug, my friend, it is indeed a bog loss.  Thanks for your kind words.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> Very sad news...I will read Fatihah for Haji Hussain Farajian.  My condolences to his son.
> 
> Manoucher Jan, I remember for over 5 years I was asking you how I could get one of his swords , sadly that opportunity is now lost . 
> 
> Do you have a contact number for his son Manoucher Jan, I would like to call him myself


Thanks Mumtaz,  couple of years ago I explained the situation to you clearly.  That you need a permit from Cultural Heritage.  Getting that permission was not a problem as I said.  But you prefered to wait a bit.  Later as I mentioned to you the law changed.  You need now a permit from Cultural Heritage (that the piece is not antique) and also from the Army (as it is a weapon).  The latter is hard to obtain.  Both are possible to get but it takes time as you need to apply in Tehran.  The problem is not getting the permits but that you can send them via mail service.  You need to take them out yourself declaring the piece with the papers at the airport.  All is possible but it takes time as I mentioend it to you.

Now the owners of his pieces have cultural relics as sad as it sounds.  I will tell his family your message, but I have not managed to contact the family myself.  The shop is closed for forty days as I was told by Ms. Taherkahni, and after that I can tell him.  

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> My condolances for the loss of such an artist.


Thank you very much Frank for your kind words.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> Indeed, this is a loss for swordsmithing, Iranian heritage, and the world. Ostad Farajian lives on in his legacy of inspired art and and humility. I am glad we were able to see even a fraction of his work through Manouchehr's articles, one can see even in pictures how much love the Ostad put into his art. Condolences and prayers to his family.


Thank you very much Shayan for your kind words, I really appreciate it.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

> Very sad news indeed. He was a great craftsman.


Thank you very much Paul for your kind words.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## A. Ko

This is a loss to the world.  His works were treasures.  I very much desired to own one of his swords one day.  

He has definitely earned his footprint in sword history.

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## Manouchehr M.

> This is a loss to the world.  His works were treasures.  I very much desired to own one of his swords one day.  
> 
> He has definitely earned his footprint in sword history.


Hi Adrian,

Thank you very much for your kind words.  I really appreciate it.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Brock H

This is very sad news.  From what you have said of him, Manouchehr, and the pictures you have posted of his work, he was a pre-eminent craftsman, a scholar and a very fine gentleman in all meanings of that last word.  A loss indeed, not only to his family, but to all the world including those who did not know him.  There are too few of any of those three in the world and far too few who combine all three.

Please forward my deepest condolences to his family.  I am certain that a merciful God has already welcomed him to Paradise.

And yes, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help his family.  As a suggestion, would it be possible to combine your articles on him with additional material and photos of his work into a book?  He may be gone, but his work can live on in such a manner and be seen by a wider audience.

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## Dan Howard

This is very sad. Is there some way for SFI to collect photos of his works and post them together somewhere? This man and his beautiful work need to be honoured in some sort of memorial gallery.

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## Manouchehr M.

> This is very sad news.  From what you have said of him, Manouchehr, and the pictures you have posted of his work, he was a pre-eminent craftsman, a scholar and a very fine gentleman in all meanings of that last word.  A loss indeed, not only to his family, but to all the world including those who did not know him.  There are too few of any of those three in the world and far too few who combine all three.
> 
> Please forward my deepest condolences to his family.  I am certain that a merciful God has already welcomed him to Paradise.
> 
> And yes, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help his family.  As a suggestion, would it be possible to combine your articles on him with additional material and photos of his work into a book?  He may be gone, but his work can live on in such a manner and be seen by a wider audience.


Thank you very much Brock for your kind words.  I really appreciate it and I am sure his family as well.  As a matter of fact I was planning to write a book on contemporary Iranian smiths and he was the master of all.  Unfortunately, the destiny wanted it otherwise.  This is really sad.  I have written different articles on him hosted on Persian Mirror.  I also wrote another one about his work and death and combined it with beautiful pictures with a marvellous akenakes he made and this will be submitted to Persian Mirror as well soon.

I do not know what to say.  He was a philosopher, a kind and a very gentle   I hope that someday I could publish a book on him and his work and his philosphy.  I had different interviews with him.  We truly lost a cultural asset.

Kind regards

Manouchehr Moshtagh Khorasani

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## Manouchehr M.

> This is very sad. Is there some way for SFI to collect photos of his works and post them together somewhere? This man and his beautiful work need to be honoured in some sort of memorial gallery.


Dan,

That is indeed a very good idea.  I am going to write four more articles on his work that will be submitted to Persian Mirror and other magazines.  We could also host them as one article ina gallery in SFI for sure.  We need to talk to Adrian about this.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini

Manouchehr,

as far as you know is there somebody that will continue his tradition ?

God call the best ones first...

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## Manouchehr M.

> Manouchehr,
> 
> as far as you know is there somebody that will continue his tradition ?
> 
> God call the best ones first...


Carlo,

Thanks for the note.  I finally managed to talk to his son who was of course very sad.  His son is alsoa  very good smith.  However, he told me that many mass-produced knives and edged weapons from China flooded the market and hence many smiths working in the traditional methods cannot compete with.  The reason is of course the cheap price and people go for that.  He said that many knifemakres quit doing their job because of that.  They talked to Cultural Heritage and Handicraft, but it is hard to influence the market as you know.  I only hope that his son will continue the tradition as he is an excellent smith himself.

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## MumtazB

> Thanks Mumtaz,  couple of years ago I explained the situation to you clearly.  That you need a permit from Cultural Heritage.  Getting that permission was not a problem as I said.  But you prefered to wait a bit.  Later as I mentioned to you the law changed.  You need now a permit from Cultural Heritage (that the piece is not antique) and also from the Army (as it is a weapon).  The latter is hard to obtain.  Both are possible to get but it takes time as you need to apply in Tehran.  The problem is not getting the permits but that you can send them via mail service.  You need to take them out yourself declaring the piece with the papers at the airport.  All is possible but it takes time as I mentioend it to you.
> 
> Now the owners of his pieces have cultural relics as sad as it sounds.  I will tell his family your message, but I have not managed to contact the family myself.  The shop is closed for forty days as I was told by Ms. Taherkahni, and after that I can tell him.  
> 
> Kind regards
> 
> Manouchehr




So you did Manoucher Jan. I was not implying that you had not helped me, so sorry about the misunderstanding there. 
Anyways, it was a pleasure to have seen his work and read articles and your experiences with the man, so I thankyou for bringing his work to this forum

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## MumtazB

> Carlo,
> 
> Thanks for the note.  I finally managed to talk to his son who was of course very sad.  His son is alsoa  very good smith.  However, he told me that many mass-produced knives and edged weapons from China flooded the market and hence many smiths working in the traditional methods cannot compete with.  The reason is of course the cheap price and people go for that.  He said that many knifemakres quit doing their job because of that.  They talked to Cultural Heritage and Handicraft, but it is hard to influence the market as you know.  I only hope that his son will continue the tradition as he is an excellent smith himself.
> 
> Kind regards
> 
> Manouchehr


So the cheap blades from China are affecting smiths from Iran too. I find this very disheartening. I too hope Haji Mohammed Reza will continue his father's tradition.

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## Manouchehr M.

Dear friends,

My new article on Ostad Farajian was just published.

http://www.persianmirror.com/Article...ubCategory=117

Kind regards

Manouchehr

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## Greg T. Obach

thank you Manoucher
that was a great article and a wonderful tribute to Ostad
I've never met the man but i feel i know him well through your words.. 
I'm very sorry for the loss

Greg

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## Manouchehr M.

> thank you Manoucher
> that was a great article and a wonderful tribute to Ostad
> I've never met the man but i feel i know him well through your words.. 
> I'm very sorry for the loss
> 
> Greg



Thanks Greg

Soon I will post more pictures of the work of Ostad as a student went to see his son and took many pictures.

Kind regards

MAnouchehr

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