Bahman Panahi’s western students are brought together under the name CalligraVie.

This cosmopolitan and eclectic community have been initiated into traditional calligraphy; they learn and practice this art with respect for its fundamental principles.

They are inspired by high standards in the quality of the tools they use – ink, qalam, traditional paper – and for the application and care they bring to their work in the calligraphic pieces they produce. Their intention is to sublimate words, texts and poetry into compositions in a classical style. But their purpose is also to reflect on the possibilities offered by traditional calligraphy in the domain of artistic creation: they are creating truly living art, which takes its full place in our contemporary world.

In spite of themselves, these students form a de facto school of calligraphy which has arisen informally in the wake of Bahman Panahi’s teaching.
They share a number of values favoured by the qualities that this art imbues in its practitioners.

Concentration, patience, serenity, tranquillity and self-discipline permeate them with a stability and inner equilibrium, encouraging and inviting them towards sharing and openness to others. Calligraphy thus traces a way of life. It is within the context of this harmony that CalligraVie finds its artistic and spiritual place.