ABROBAD collection

For ABTANY 's Summer 2023 collection, Creative Director Sourena Ghaffari once again reaches towards his heritage as his reference and vantage point. In revisiting traditional Persian motifs, contemporary furnishings, and aesthetics, he finds the basis for their sophomore swimwear offering. Inspiration was drawn from photographs of Modern Iranian hotels — themselves a thriving marriage of past tastes and present glories.

'ABROBAD' takes its name from a specific style of the Persian art working found in some tiling and mosaics. The word itself translates to English as a combination of ‘cloud and wind',  typified in a blue and white stepped design on ancient houses in Iran, and especially in the city of Kashan, home to Ghaffari's grandparents. Designing for Ghaffari, more than just an aesthetic pursuit—the deep immersion of research and remembering and creation— is a gesture for and towards home; his creative process is a bridge that allows him to inhabit a world he might find himself otherwise unable to inhabit literally. A world he remains a part of, and apart from, indefinitely.

 The rich source material has been reinterpreted, beginning as in the previous collection with a hand-painted motif and incorporating inflections of modernity in its execution. The design is also available in a Stone colourway, featuring a drawstring for comfort without sacrificing elevation. The dreamy pink hues of Hormuz beach on the Southern coast of Iran, where 'Gelack' — a deep red soil with multi-hyphenate purposes—mingles with the waters of the ocean to create its famous red and rose-coloured waters, inspire the first of this collection's colourways. During the process of researching and creating the collection, Ghaffari was deeply moved and invested in the recent and powerful 'woman, life, freedom' uprising of his native across Iran. While seeking on-the-ground accounts of resistance and life amidst a great struggle for freedom, he looked to the colours and traditional motifs of Iran's southern cities, interpreting them through the speculative lens and lifestyle of Abtany.

 As ever, ABTANY remains committed to sustainability in the production of collections. The fabric used to create ABTANY 's swimmer has gone from 57 premium recycled materials to 100% recycled materials in this collection.