after 60 years the historic “Payman” closes
After 60 years, the shutter “Payman” closes, the first shop of Persian and oriental carpets founded on Titan. A long chapter closes which has brought a breath of the East through the streets of the ancient land of freedom. To tell a story of precious inlays, in which religious commitment is hand in hand with the passion linked to an ancient craft, is the engineer Nader Payman, son of the couple who in 1962 started the business at Dogana in via Tre settembre 79.
“Unlike other compatriots, my parents did not leave Iran in 1979 after the fall of the Shah Reza Pahlavi to escape the establishment of a fundamentalist regime, but they landed in San Marino on their own initiative way back in 1953”. The reasons were of a religious nature, he continues, as the Titan was one of the few places in the world where the Bahà’ì faith was not known. So the couple, Sohrab (now 101 years old) and Tabandeh Payman, decided to take the big leap in the dark, “embracing a very courageous choice” which triggered a new life project. “At the time my father was 32 and my mother, who is no longer with us, was only 29 – recalls Nader -. They had to start all over again, learn another language, get to know a world different from theirs and there were difficult moments but not even once did they have second thoughts».
The first activity of a long-lived career was opened in Rimini in 1962, followed by the cutting of the ribbon for the store on the Titano where, just like in the shadow of the Arch of Augustus, nothing of the kind existed. Time passes between successes and changes until, in an era in which less and less is spent on beauty, it is time for Customs too to lower the shutters after the closure of the stores in Rimini and Bologna.
Nader explains. «My father turned 101 and no longer comes to the shop, he was the expert in the sector. The San Marino office was managed by my sister who sadly passed away, so my wife and I decided to stop the activity first of all in order not to tarnish its image. Thus the total liquidation for the closure started: the over 600 pieces are on sale at minus 70% ».
Untraceable pieces
«We don’t just sell very old carpets – he underlines – we sell unobtainable carpets, including those from my father’s private collection. Many examples date back to the golden age of Persia when the Shah was still in power before the country fell into the obscurity of fundamentalism. Very refined and ancient masterpieces of at least half a century, with a surprising variety and colors of vegetable origin, because – Nader further clarifies – when my father went to Persia he bought even 50 at a time, choosing some at the same time for his personal collection». An example? «Six specimens of one type of carpet remain in the world: two of these are proudly displayed in our shop».
But it’s never easy to write the word “end” to stories that, in conclusion, have articulated from one end of the world to the other. After showing the Titan a beauty from the ancestral tradition, the founder Sohrab “cries his heart” for the farewell, this time unfortunately he will not be able to find another plot.