Splash of colour: the Tehran bazaar's pencil seller - in pictures

Seller sticks to his passion in a digital world

In this picture taken on May 22, 2023, Mohammad Rafi, a seller of coloured pencils at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, sits at his shop. In a dimly lit corner of Tehran's Grand Bazaar, Mohammad Rafi is surrounded by all colours of the rainbow in his tiny shop that sells nothing but art pencils. The world may have gone digital, but Rafi has stayed true to his passion of the past 35 years, surrounded by thousands of pencils in every hue and shade imaginable. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

'I don't know how many pencils there are but I have about 200 colours available,' says the proud 50-year-old owner of Medad Rafi (Rafi's pencil shop)

Rafi himself takes up much of the three-square-metre shop in the market's arts and crafts section, where he has welcomed generations of customers

'Every time a customer shows up, I enjoy it, even if they don't buy anything,' Rafi says with a smile

'Depending on what they want to do with it, I advise customers on the colour, the texture or the brand,' says Rafi, who sells the pencils individually, not by the box

He is proud to cater to all budgets, offering locally made pencils and others imported from Europe and America

'The most expensive pencil costs 100,000 tomans (about $2.15),' he says. 'But it is one of the best'

A drawing lover since childhood, Rafi has always adored pencils and, after his technical studies in the 1980s, began his professional life in a pencil manufacturing company before opening his shop.

Unlike many other shop owners in the bazaar, he will not pass on the business to his son, a trained physician who 'is not interested in this work'

'Fortunately, I have a large stock' accumulated over the years, Rafi says. He has some pencils 'made 72 years ago' and 'some pencils that are no longer produced'

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