A Paradise Called Iran
The most famous coloring book in Iran — Where Colors Dance and You Find Your Reflections
YEAR
2019
ROLE
Author & Creative Director
LOCATION
Iran
STATUS
Published
CHALLENGE
The Big Idea
Creating a premium cultural product that could capture Iran's diverse beauty while standing out in a nascent adult coloring book market where nothing like it existed.
A luxury coloring book celebrating Iran's architectural and natural heritage through intricate line art — designed for adults who want to reconnect with beauty, culture, and meditative focus.
APPROACH
Commissioned original hand-drawn illustrations of 40+ iconic Iranian landmarks, landscapes, and cultural motifs — packaged in a high-quality print format that doubled as an art object.
TECHNOLOGIES
Colors are the language of a culture that never needed translation.
-- Mahdi Meshkani --
ORIGIN
Why This Book Had to Exist
Creating a premium cultural product that could capture Iran's diverse beauty while standing out in a nascent adult coloring book market where nothing like it existed.
VISION
A New Kind of Cultural Object
The book was designed as both a coloring experience and a coffee-table art piece. Each page tells a story — a mosque dome, a mountain village, a Persian garden — rendered in precise, intricate line art that rewards time and attention.
We partnered with illustrators who understood architectural detail to ensure every drawing was not just beautiful, but historically faithful. The result was something Iran hadn't seen before.
IMPACT
Bestseller, Gift, and Legacy
A Paradise Called Iran became the #1 bestselling coloring book in Iran within months of release. It found its way into schools, corporate gift packages, international gift shops, and the hands of the Iranian diaspora worldwide.
What surprised me most was the emotional response. People wrote to say they'd spent evenings coloring with their parents, with their children — reconnecting with a heritage they felt was slipping away.
