About Mehr Wins
Mehr Wins is my personal way of saying Love Wins. But for me, it is more than a translation. The Persian word Mehr carries the meaning of love, kindness, affection, and human warmth, and it is also tied to the ancient idea of the sun and its light. It represents warmth, life, and truth. This kind of love is not loud or dramatic. It lives quietly in everyday moments, in how we treat one another with care, respect, and presence. Mehr Wins exists to honor that kind of love, and to express it through design, language, and story.
Persian culture has drawn me in for as long as I can remember. For many years, that connection was shaped mostly by curiosity and by what I saw from afar, but it deepened in a meaningful way after I watched Anthony Bourdain visit Iran on his show Parts Unknown. What stayed with me most was not politics or headlines, but the warmth, dignity, and humanity he encountered everywhere he went. At one point he said, “I am so confused. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Of all the places, of all the countries, all the years of traveling, it’s here, in Iran, that I am greeted most warmly by total strangers.” That moment stayed with me, because it said more about people than any headline ever could.
Later, I was fortunate enough to form real friendships with people from Iran whose kindness, values, and outlook on life made this connection deeply personal. What began as interest slowly became something rooted in real relationships and real respect. Those connections changed this project from something distant into something human and real.
I want to be clear about intention. This project comes from admiration and from a sincere desire to honor a culture, not to speak for it. When I share words, ideas, or history here, I do so with humility and care. I know I will never fully understand a culture that is not my own, and I welcome thoughtful correction and learning. Mehr Wins is not about claiming authority. It is about listening, appreciating, and sharing what has moved me in a respectful way.
Persian language and poetry hold a special place in this project. It is a deeply expressive language, and many of its ideas and images do not have exact equivalents in English. The quotes and words shared here are interpretations meant to carry spirit and meaning rather than perfect, word-for-word translations. Something is always lost in translation, but something beautiful can still be shared.
At the heart of this project is a simple belief that human beings are connected, and that kindness, dignity, and compassion still matter. There is a famous line by the poet Saadi that speaks of humanity as one body, where the pain of one is felt by all. That spirit of shared responsibility and shared feeling is one of the reasons Persian culture and its wisdom continue to inspire me so deeply.
Mehr Wins is not about trends or algorithms. It is about intention. It is about choosing love over fear, light over darkness, meaning over noise, and depth over emptiness. Everything here is created with care, and every word, every symbol, and every design is meant to carry purpose, whether it lives here in words or takes form at shop.mehrwins.com.
I do not believe we were placed in a world designed for failure, but in one meant for learning, growth, and return. Mehr Wins is my reminder, to myself and to anyone who finds something here that speaks to them, that light finds its way home, and that love, quiet, steady, and real, still wins.
If you would like to read the longer and more personal story behind how Mehr Wins came to be, you can find it here:
[Read the full story →] https://mehrwins.com/the-becoming-of-mehr-wins-into-mehrzad
John Gruca
For a Persian translation of this website, click here: English ➡️ Farsi. If a Google redirect warning appears, please click ‘Continue’ as this is normal for translated content. You can also translate our site directly by visiting translate.google.com and entering mehrwins.com under website.