It was one of the cold days of Nov, 1979 when Seyed Mohammad Saadatmand found a crowd of people moving out everything from the shopping area to the yard. They were helping the city government emptying the shop to make it ready to be torn down. In a few hours everything was bulldozed in front of Seyed Mohammad and his sons’ eyes.

A few years before, the detailed plan of the city had suggested to widen the Amin Blv (former Qom-Isfahan road). Unfortunately the shopping area of the Ceramic Handicraft Center was located right beside the road and it had to be torn down to widen the road. The city had decided to follow the detailed plan but there were some powerful opponents to the plan such as Farah Pahlavi’s mom (Shah of Iran’s wife’s mom) who put the plan on hold for a few years. She tried hard to keep the only art center in the city alive but after Iranian revolution of 1979  the city got the confidence to follow the detailed plan. Now Saadatmand family had no choice except continuing their business without a storefront. 

The Rise Of Optimism