Tentra is an independent design studio working at the intersection of Persian visual heritage and contemporary craft. We are small on purpose, and we intend to stay that way.
The studio was founded in 2017 by Soraya Mehrabi and Kamiar Esfahani, who met at the University of Tehran and disagreed productively about grids for the better part of a decade before deciding to share a studio of their own. We took the ground floor of a former letterpress print shop on Khajeh Nasir, kept the old Heidelberg in the back, and started taking on the kind of work we wanted to argue about.
Nine years in, we are still seven. We turn down more projects than we accept — usually around nine clients a year — so that the people doing the work are the people who pitched it. There is no B-team here.
We believe a design can be unmistakably of its place — of Iran, of Tehran — without resorting to motif or pastiche. Heritage is a posture, not a pattern. That belief is the only thing every project we take on has in common.
Co-founder, Creative Director. Leads identity and art direction.
Co-founder, Design Director. Leads editorial and type.
Senior Designer. Heads up our digital product practice.
Designer & Type. Draws Persian and Latin letterforms.
Designer. Works across packaging and print production.
Writer & Editor. Shapes the words across every project.
Studio Manager & Strategy. Keeps the work, and us, on track.