Early years
Ali Nabavi was born in 1987 in Iran into a rice farming family.
His early years were spent studying and experimenting with various forms of art, including theater, poetry, literature, drawing, oil painting, sculpting and woodworking. University studies covered areas as diverse as HVAC engineering and the humanities.
Inevitably it was not long before he discovered that his greatest talent lay in his intuitive grasp of three dimensionality, and that his greatest joy was in creating complex spacial forms.
Training and experience
At the age of 24 Ali became a member of the Ceramic Association of Iran and began working with the Director of the Ceramic Board of Iran, Master Artist Hirbod Hemmat-Azad and his wife Rojhaneh Hosseini.
These years of involvement in the combination of both design and implementation to produce many different types of art work served to confirm that sculpting is his great love.
Ali trained under and eventually worked with two great Iranian ceramic Master Artists, Behzad Ajdari, President of the Association of Iranian Potters, and Farzad Faraji, Vice President of the Association of Iranian Ceramicists. Iran has a ceramic tradition spanning millennia, resulting in one of the most advanced ceramic cultures in the world. Long and intense days of work and study with these two masters turned his work into a serious art, enabling him to become professional in design, concept implementation, sculpting, modelling, moulding, glazing and firing.
Combining Art and Education
In 2016 Ali moved to South Africa and made Cape Town his new home.
In addition to actively producing personalised art works using a variety of techniques, Ali also gives classes in ceramic sculpture. It is no surprise that he loves teaching, has a special gift for imparting his knowledge and skill, and is adored by his students, who consistently produce sculptures beyond their wildest imaginings.
