Early March 2026, at a time when Iran is once again dominating global headlines, we revisit a special issue of art4d published in 2017 that explored another side of the country—its architecture, design, and contemporary art scenes.

art4d 248: Tehran Today was produced in the same year that Thai Airways launched its first direct flight between Bangkok and Tehran. The new route enabled our editorial team to travel more than 7,000 kilometers to the Iranian capital, where we met architects, designers, artists, publishers, and cultural practitioners who were shaping a vibrant creative landscape within a complex social and political context.

For many readers, this issue may have passed by unnoticed when it was first published. Revisiting it today offers another way of seeing Iran—not only through the lens of geopolitics, but through the architects, designers, artists, and creative minds who were imagining and shaping the country’s cultural future at that moment. We can only hope that today, they are safe, and that they are still able to continue their work.