Master Mostafa Khodadadzadeh with hammer and chisel, chasing a design into a silver sheet in his Isfahan workshop

From the age of seven, in his father’s workshop

Where the sound of the chisel on silver was the first lesson of a life — in a family whose craft was silversmithing and coppersmithing.

An ambassador of Iranian silver chasing

Exhibitions in Montreal, in California, in Paris, and across the Persian Gulf states.

Faith, given a body of silver

A hand in the sacred zarih of Imam Reza and the zarih of Imam Hussain — sixteen years of the chisel on the most consecrated of metal.

An Enduring Figure of the art

The World Crafts Day trophy, and a commemorative stamp bearing the master’s name and portrait, issued by Iran Post.

The art of silver chasing — Isfahan

MasterMostafaKhodadadzadeh

Seventy years of silver chasing, and a lifetime of enduring work in precious metal

View the works The master’s story

70: years at the silver
2: sacred zarihs
2011: named an Enduring Figure

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Biography & artistic path

The story of a chisel

This path begins in a workshop and arrives at an international certificate — but its middle is sixteen years of chasing a sheet of silver that pilgrims’ hands would touch for decades. Six chapters, in the order they happened.

Childhood and youth
A family inheritance, in the cradle of the craft
Turning pointAn apprenticeship in silversmithing and chasing, inside Isfahan’s workshop world
The first steps were taken inside an artisan family whose trade was silver. A close schooling in the traditional crafts of silversmithing and chasing under a renowned Isfahan master — and a childhood spent in the workshop itself — laid down the taste, the precision and the love of the art.
Today, in that same workshop: the master’s hands and the next generation’s, on one sheet. The photograph is from the workshop as it is now, not from those years.
1996 — 201316 years
Faith, given a body of silver
Turning pointA hand in the sacred zarih of Imam Reza and the zarih of Imam Hussain, and the founding of Khodadad Gallery
The proudest chapter of this record: a contribution to the sacred zarih of Imam Reza from 1996 to 2000, and then the zarih of Imam Hussain from 2008 to 2013, installed in Karbala in March of that final year. Along those same years, Khodadad Gallery was founded.
The holy shrine of Imam Hussain in Karbala; the new zarih was installed on 5 March 2013.
2004
A rising name in Iranian handicrafts
Turning pointThe World Crafts Day trophy and letter of appreciation
Sustained work and invention in design carried his name out of the workshop. On the occasion of World Crafts Day, the Ministry of Industries and Mines presented him with its trophy and letter of appreciation — a letter that names, in so many words, his “artistry in the blessed zarih of the Eighth Imam.”
The World Crafts Day trophy — Tehran, 10 June 2004.
2011 — 20165 years
An Enduring Figure
Turning pointThe Governorate of Isfahan’s citation, the Enduring Figure title in zarih-making, and a dedicated Iran Post stamp
Two official institutions wrote these words about him, five years apart: first the Governorate of Isfahan in 2011, and then the First International Conference of Arts and Crafts in 2016 — this time under a named discipline, zarih-making. At that same conference, a stamp bearing his name and portrait was issued. The documents for all three are in the Recognition section.
The Governorate of Isfahan’s citation, 2011 — the first document to write those words about him.
2023
Leading the silver and jewellery trade
Turning pointBrand of the Year, and the Iran Chamber of Guilds’ citation
Raising quality standards and steadily refining the work brought the Khodadad brand the title of Brand of the Year in the silver and jewellery trade. At the Sixth International Strategic Management Summit, in late 2023, the citation was issued in the master’s name and the trophy in the name of Khodadad Silver Gallery’s management.
The trophy of the Sixth International Strategic Management Summit, November–December 2023 (Azar 1402) — issued to the management of Khodadad Silver Gallery.
2024 — present
Guarding authenticity to a world standard
Turning pointThe “Ghalamzani Khodadadzadeh” geographical indication, and three international ISO certificates
Today’s recognition speaks another language: certificate numbers, scopes, expiry dates. “Ghalamzani Khodadadzadeh” was registered as a geographical indication in the master’s own name on 9 September 2024 — certificate no. 1004, valid to 2026 — and the gallery holds three ISO standards. The path is the same path; this time on paper that reads the same in any country.
The “Ghalamzani Khodadadzadeh” geographical indication certificate — Isfahan Handicrafts Guild Union, no. 1004, September 2024.

A chapter still being written

The workshop is still open, and the chisel is still on the silver. What comes off that bench is further down this very page.

Recognition & standing

What others put in writing

A silver chaser’s standing is not written by the man himself. It is written by the institutions that entered his name in a document, the shrines that accepted his work, and the press that watched him at his bench half a century ago. These are those documents.

Commemorative stamp2016

Zarih-making

3,000 rials

For the First International Conference of Arts and Crafts in Iranian-Islamic Culture and Civilisation, the Islamic Republic of Iran Post issued a stamp bearing the master’s name and portrait — under the discipline of zarih-making.

2sacred zarihs
1978first European exhibition
3continents exhibited on
100%made by hand

Governorate of Isfahan
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
Ministry of Industries and Mines
University of Isfahan
Municipality of Isfahan
Office of the Supreme Leader’s Representative in Isfahan
Islamic Republic of Iran Post
Mehr Eqtesad Bank
Iran Chamber of Guilds
Maison de l’Iran, Paris
House of Iran, Beverly Hills
NACI

Enduring Figure

Two official institutions, five years apart, wrote the same two words about him: the Governorate of Isfahan in 2011, and the First International Conference of Arts and Crafts in 2016 — this time under a named discipline, zarih-making.

The trust of the zarih

Chasing a sheet that pilgrims’ hands will touch for decades is measured on another scale. These citations come from the shrine, from the Friday pulpit, and from the bank that backed the work — and at the end, a fragment of stone from inside the zarih itself.

Silver, travelling

In the winter of 1978, the Centre des Maisons de l’Iran sent him to demonstrate silver chasing at the Maison de l’Iran in Paris — 65, avenue des Champs-Élysées. Two weeks later the same bench opened in Beverly Hills. This archive is first-hand.

Press release of the Maison de l’Iran, ParisJanuary 1978
The bench, before a Paris audienceJanuary 1978
Explaining the work to visitorsJanuary 1978
In the photographers’ frameJanuary 1978
The “Splendour of the Persian Carpet” standJanuary 1978
The chisel, on a great platterJanuary 1978
Opening nightJanuary 1978
UN ARTISAN IRANIEN FACE AUX JEUNES1978
Brochure of “The Silver Canvas” exhibitionFebruary 1978
The “THE ARTIST” page — a printed biography, 1978February 1978
Report on the opening night8 February 1978
Press announcement of the exhibition8–22 February 1978

The workshop, today

Today’s recognition speaks another language: certificate numbers, scopes, expiry dates. “Ghalamzani Khodadadzadeh” is a registered geographical indication, and the gallery holds three ISO standards.

Gallery of unique works

Each work, a single copy

A selection of the master’s finest pieces — where delicacy, authenticity and detail show in every work. No piece here exists twice: no mould was ever taken, and no design was ever struck again.

13 works · handmade silver · one of each

View all works