Makers of Athens
A few years ago, Athens was full of shuttered shops and abandoned buildings. Young, gung-ho locals seized the opportunity to set up artist-run spaces, crafting sessions started popping up in artsy cafés and plant shops, and now there is a ceramics studio in every neighbourhood where residents come together to get their hands dirty and to feel grounded in their community.
These six makers are at the vanguard of this arts and crafts revival. Working across different disciplines, they all take inspiration from the vibrant sense of possibility in Athens, a city where craftsmanship has been part of the urban fabric since antiquity.
1 Kyr Lakis
> Zoodochou Pigis 49-51, Exarchia
> Open: Mon, Wed, Sat 11am-6pm / Tues, Thurs, Fri 11am-8pm
Harilaos Kourtinos Pallas has craftsmanship in his blood. His grandfather, Kyr Lakis (Mr. Lakis) block printed the patterned scarves for Greek folk costumes. Kyr Lakis started his apprenticeship in 1924, when he was 15, engraving the wooden blocks and printing each piece by hand. “My mission is to keep our family traditions alive,” says Harilaos, who enlisted his mother Lena, a seamstress, to help revive this fast-disappearing craft. The first batch of scarves, printed with his grandfather’s whimsical mermaids, sold out so fast that he began experimenting with cushions, tablecloths, kimonos, and satchels, all made from pure Greek cotton, linen, and cheesecloth. You’ll find them at Aphilo, Kourtinos Pallas’ beautifully curated concept store, along with jewellery, ceramics and accessories by local designers. “I want to provide a welcoming space for up-and-coming artists, a place for all the different crafts that are making a comeback in Greece,” says Kourtinos Pallas. “It’s not about profit — it’s about showing their work and sharing ideas.”
2 Kypseli Print Studio
> Sporadon 10, Kypseli
> Open: by appointment
The Kypseli neighbourhood has changed drastically since British artist Eleanor Lines arrived in 2016 for an arts residency. “There were so many empty shops. There was an energy but also a sadness, this sense of faded grandeur underneath all the graffiti,” recalls Lines. She fell for Athens and returned a year later to set up Kypseli Print Studio, where she teaches screen printing through workshops and residencies. Her own abstract prints are inspired by the patterns and details of the area’s architecture — a mishmash of Art Deco, Bauhaus, and modernist apartments and townhouses. An obsession with the intricate metalwork of their wrought-iron entrances eventually became a book, ‘Doors of Kypseli’, featuring blue-and-white prints of 100 doors. “I encourage all the visiting artists to take inspiration from the city, as I did,” says Lines. “Compared to the grey drudgery of London, Athens was such an uplifting experience. It would have been impossible to create a community-based arts space in London, with the cost of studio space and intense competition. Here in Athens, I could organically make that dream come true.”
3 Parnés
> Romvis 32, Historic Centre
> Open: Mon, Wed, Sat: 11am-5pm / Tues, Thurs, Fri: 11am-7pm
“Make bags not war” is the perfect slogan for this underground design studio, where Panayiotis Drakopoulos takes army surplus to the next level. A single canvas tote might be made from the canopy of a decommissioned military jeep, straps from a 1940s U.S. army backpack, and offcuts from a Greek soldier’s rucksack from the 1970s, all sourced from flea markets and thrift shops. “The patina, quality, and durability are impossibe to replicate with new materials,” says Drakopoulos. His one-of-a-kind bags are hand-stitched in a workshop dating from 1896, where the ceiling fan beats time to a vintage record player. Inside, you’ll find Drakopoulos piecing together backpacks from postmen’s satchels or gilets assembled from a patchwork of army blankets. The leather pouches and purses, screen-printed with geometric patterns inspired by ancient Greek motifs, are designed by his brother Yiannis.
4 It's a Shirt
> Asklipiou 67 & Eressou, Exarchia
> Open: Wed, Sat: 12-5pm / Tues, Thurs, Fri: 12-8pm.
A single striped shirt hangs in the window of Christina Christodoulou’s sunny studio-showroom. This understated confidence is the hallmark of her fledgling fashion label, It’s a Shirt. Made from dead stock, fabric remnants, or cotton and linen dyed in bespoke colourways, Christodoulou produces just a few pieces of each style; be it a crisp poplin ‘Kind Regards’ shirt or a seersucker ‘Sparking Water’ polo. Christodoulou’s father and uncle produced clothing for Greek fashion brands, but competition from global chain stores compounded by the economic crisis forced them out of business. “My father offered to make me and my friends a few shirts from some leftover cloth,” recalls Christodoulou, who studied textile design in Sweden. “They were such a hit that we turned the idea into a family business.” Versatile, wearable, and gender-fluid, every garment is made to last. “Our customers want to know who made their clothes,” says Christodoulou. “Couples often choose different styles so they can share their clothes. It’s a more sustainable and conscious way of shopping.”
Instagram: @itsashirt
5 Kleopatra Tsali
> Trion Ierarchon 38, Petralona
> Open: by appointment
A visual artist who uses clay as a medium, Kleopatra Tsali creates ephemeral assemblages that are grounded in the natural world. Her fragile totems feature ceramic moulds of cabbages, coconuts, and other fruit and vegetables. She derives materials from the landscapes where she works: ‘foraging’ for raw clay on Naxos Island, where she spends her summers, and producing glazes from stones she collects in the woods of Philopappou hill, beneath the Acropolis. Tsali also breeds silkworms from cocoons, using the threads to explore a vanishing tradition that once flourished in Greece. At Cabane, her studio in Petralona, Tsali teaches pottery and hosts occasional workshops in collage or basketry. “I was amazed that so many people feel the need to think with their hands and belong to a community,” says Tsali. “When you’re making art, you spend a lot of time in your own fantastical world. It’s good for me to open up the studio to their energy and ideas.”
Instagram: @cabane.athens
6 Maggoosh
> Koumpari 2, Kolonaki
> Open: by appointment
Margarita Chrissaki’s Egyptian cat, Nubia, sashays through the cascade of gold chains, brushing past green amethyst earrings shaped like flowers and tiny pomegranates fashioned into pendants. Personal shopping does not get more personal than this: Chrissaki’s by-appointment showroom is also the home she shares with Nubia, her boyfriend, and his Weimaraner. Chrissaki launched her jewellery line, Maggoosh, when she was just 19. She christened the brand after her breakdancing nickname — she was the Greek national breakdancing champion for years, and her fluid, feminine jewellery mirrors her own lithe, graceful physique. “When you wear the jewellery, it moves with your body and becomes part of you,” says Chrissaki. Maggoosh is stocked worldwide, but exploring the collection surrounded by the designer’s inspirations — Indian deities, Australian shells, a skateboard used as a candle stand — is a deep dive into her wearable art.
Instagram: @maggoosh
