Farhad Heshmati Aghdaei was born in Shemiran, a northern district of Tehran known for its cultural vibrancy and intellectual circles during the 1950s. His family, originally from Aghda, a small town near Ardakan in Yazd Province, carried deep-rooted Persian traditions and a respect for education. Growing up in Shemiran exposed Aish to a blend of urban culture and rural values, shaping his later fascination with contrasts — between simplicity and sophistication, between emotion and logic.
He attended elementary and high school in Tehran, where his early interest in the arts began to take shape. Aish was drawn to visual storytelling and literature, excelling in reading and interpretation despite suffering from dyslexia, a condition that would accompany him throughout his life. Dyslexia, however, became not a limitation but a defining feature of his perception — he often remarked that it taught him to “see language differently” and to “listen to silence as much as to sound.”
