Maryam Keyhani Is The Iranian Designer Creating Surrealist And Sculptural Headpieces

Who by and where from: Maryam Keyhani, an Iran-born milliner who’s been variously referred to as an artist and designer.

Why know it: The most accurate way to describe Keyhani, who started the label two years ago, might just be a surrealist sculptor whose medium happens to be headpieces.

Her fantastical, oversized creations evoke a certain rarefied (if eccentric) old-world grandeur that’s all but disappeared and makes one think of anything from the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland to that supreme aesthete Marchesa Luisa Casati.

Not formally trained in millinery, her extravagantly imaginative headgear might have more to do with her artistic background – the daughter of a painter, she took up sculpting before starting a now-defunct jewellery line.

Never seen without a hat herself, Keyhani points out that what ultimately lies at the heart of her millinery – which debuts here this month at On Pedder – is the idea of playful fantasy as a form of escapism and protection. Can’t disagree with that.