Kaniz F. Shah- Certified Henna Artist, Esthetician & Founder of Silk & Stone.

Kaniz graduated from the Art Institute of Portland with a bachelor's in Apparel Design in 1997.  While at The Art Institute, she Interned for Adidas America in their Apparel Department as an assistant apparel designer (designing men and children's clothing) where she was offered the job that gave her the most valuable experience of her life!  Through working for Adidas she learned how to design on the computer and learned the tricks and trades of running a business, developing products, merchandising and visual display.  

Her background with the Pakistani culture exposed her to henna body decorations which she has been doing ever since a teenager. She started out painting family and friends and developed a business in 1999 (during the years of working at Adidas) doing the art of henna at the Portland Saturday Market.  Her passion for henna art has gained her great knowledge and expertise in this form of art using a variety of mediums and techniques. Before developing a business, Kaniz began her search to find an artist to teach her the art form. Disappointedly, she found that no one was willing to teach this art or give away their secrets. Because the art of henna was rapidly becoming popular in the West, people were very particular about the amount of information they would leak out to the public. It had become a secret art, highly valued with a great demand. The only way she could learn it was to teach it to herself. So she began researching and experimenting for herself and developed techniques and recipes for making high quality henna paste and designs, which she now reveals in her intense henna classes at PCC, Silk & Stone shop and at the Rose Springs Center for the Healing Arts. Kaniz loves henna and believes in passing out knowledge and a piece of her culture to others so that they may benefit from it. She often volunteers in community events to promote this safe and natural form of body decoration as well as expose people to it's cultural background.  

Kaniz now designs and creates majority of the products in her business at Silk & Stone, Inc. which includes top of the line do-it-yourself body art products, henna and herbal hair care & colors and skincare products.

Kaniz is also a certified Esthetician and a very experienced threader (for facial threading & eyebrow designing).  She has learned the art from close family members and had been doing it for over 10 years.  She has an eye for detail and creates just the right eyebrow shapes that best suit your look.  She is also experienced with sugaring (a natural and ancient Persian technique for waxing), traditional facials, and specialized bridal work including Indian/Pakistani/Middle Eastern bridal makeup and setting for the sarees & lenghas. 

Kaniz has travelled extensively to many states and countries but Portland is still her favorite!  She loves swimming, hiking and lively/crowded places.

Kaniz is a certified henna artist through ICNHA (International Certification for Natural Henna Arts) under her former name Sanya Khan.

Syed Shah- Director & Co-Founder of Silk & Stone.

Lulu Wilkinson- Henna Artist

Lulu has a degree in Graphics and Animation from the Art Institute of Portland. She has been doing henna since 2005. She began working with Kaniz at the Portland Saturday Market and has been with Silk & Stone, inc. since 2007.

Celine Yip- Henna Artist

Celine began her work with Silk & Stone, Inc. after taking one of our Henna Classes taught at the Portland Community College.  She persistently met with Kaniz to show her work and began her training as a henna artist in early 2010.   Her backgroud in drawing and love & dedication for the art has helped her significantly improve speed and persistency in a matter of a few months. 

Claire Dunbar- Freelance Henna Artist

Claire is a graduate of the St. Mary's Academy and is now persuing a degree at the Washington State University.  She Has been doing henna for 4 years and works at Silk & Stone occasionally as a freelance henna artist.  

Poonam Kaur- Marketing Manager 

Jean-Pierre Parent- Certified Yoga Instructor & Teacher

JP has been formally studying yoga postures, breathing, chanting, and meditation since before the age of 10, informally celebrating the divine since before he can remember.  He's studied Vinyasa, Ashtanaga, Iyengar, Hatha and Kundalini yoga for over 20 years in the US and India, achieving a 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certification through Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, yoga's birthplace on the banks of the Ganges and the foot of the Himalyas, a Yoga Alliance International-registered course.  He attended the University of Arizona with a double major in biochemistry and nutrition (entering his senior year at age 18) and continues a passionate study of physics, biochemistry, religion, nutrition, permiculture, vedanta, bacteriology (the study of the life forms that quite literally run the Earth) and both eastern and western medicine, looking for evidence-based, practical wisdom that can be applied to everyday life.  He is preparing to pursue a Master's Degree in Yoga Therapy at the Viniyoga Instutute in the Fall of 2012, and also started OmInvasion.org, teaching yoga, ethics, and coping skills in at-risk populations, addiction recovery centers, and youth and adult correctional facilities nationwide.  He's recently finished his first book: "Kitchen Sink Farming - Easily and Cheaply Grow and Ferment Your Own Food for a Healthier Now and Greener Future" and is currently looking for a publisher (more work than writing it!).  In the meantime, he's started his second work: "PURE: Be Who You Were Meant To Be with Ancient Yoga Cleansing Practices for the Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul".

JP teaches a wide variety of classes, from "Gentle Yoga for Seniors", to "Advanced Backbending, Arm Balances, and Inversions" with many stops in between.  He also teaches therapeutic classes for specific physical and psyco-emotional benefits, like "Openings: Finding Space in Your Joints and Spine", "Stoking the Digestive Fire: Easy Practices for Increased Metabolism, Immunity, and Kundalini Raising" and "Yoga for a Broken Heart"to individuals and groups.  Trained in India under the tutelage of Pujya Swamiji Chidanand Saraswati of the "Sankyayoga" tradition, or "Yoga of Self-Knowledge" JP treats the physical aspects of yoga as the doorway to the more subtle and effective aspects of yogic transformation, such as pranayama breathwork, kriyas (cleansing for the physical, emotional, and energy bodies), meditation, ritual, prayer and mantra, always with an undistracted focus on achieving observable and quantifiable positive results.  JP's classes are tailored to individual needs, strengths and weaknesses, always presented with modifications for limited or more courageous days, and are therefore accessible to all, with a focus on fun, sustainability, curiosity, and community.  In his free time, JP enjoys long walks on the beach and sarcasm.