Benaki Museum Shop
The Benaki Museum Shop presents this fall a curated collection of ceramic works at the Ghika Gallery Shop (3, Kriezotou street). As part of this initiative, the Benaki Shop partners with the first edition of Athens Design Forum for a unique exhibition of contemporary ceramic objects from the Shop’s rich collections.
Address:
Kriezotou 3, Athens
Dates of Operation:
September 30 – October 17
Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Saturday: 10:00 – 15:00
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 – 19:00
Sunday: Closed
Since its establishment, the Benaki Shop has functioned as a dynamic space that curates and promotes the applied arts in Greece, uniting a vast creative community that until then acted individually. For decades, the Shop has been a pioneer in conserving and revitalizing Greek craftsmanship, seeking the "peak" of manual techniques and showcasing objects that are distinguished for their authenticity and technical perfection. Particularly in ceramics, the Shop was instrumental in research for young creators, and in supporting their emergence. Ghika Gallery shop was thereby established as an exhibition space for artists. Additionally, with the ‘Material Quests’ series of exhibitions, the Shop presents items of unique technique and special artistic inspiration that do not fall into the classic categories.
Through such unique approaches, the Benaki Shop emerged as a platform dedicated to the emergence of new expressive forms arising from the osmosis of traditional techniques within craft and design. By supporting the Athens Design Forum, the Benaki Museum Shop will present part of its invaluable archive of ceramic works, in an attempt to expand dialogues around Greek ceramics.
In the ADF Benaki Shop exhibition, handmade ceramic pots by renowned creators interact with contemporary objects produced through digital technology and newer unconventional media and materials. The cohabitation of “old” and “new,” articulates an updated aesthetic language that interrogates the long-established borders between crafts and design and challenges the role of memory and spontaneous manual expression in creative translations.
Margarita Ecclesiarchou lives and works in Athens, devoting herself exclusively to ceramics. She has had several one-man shows in Greece and taken part in group exhibitions. Using the wheel, mold, and the technique of sheets of clay, she makes ceramic objects with a variety of functions and in shapes drawn from traditions of various civilizations. She works the surface of the ceramic with slips, using the method of burnishing ( polishing the surface with stones ), and decorates it with incised designs or glazes.
Theodora Chorafas, born in London and studied ceramics, painting, and History of Art, which she also taught in Greece and abroad. She now lives in Aegina and works with ceramics. She has organized one-man shows, taken part in group exhibitions, and received prizes for her work both in Greece and abroad.
Yiannis Vogdanis is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Athens, Greece. His career started in Rome after graduating from the “Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma.” His area of interest lies at the meeting point of craft, design, and science. Yiannis’ passion to explore and hone his craft led him to live in places like San Francisco, Berlin, and Barcelona, working for universities and high-tech startups. In Barcelona, he acquired a master’s degree in advanced interaction design from UPC. More recently, Yiannis has focused on exploring the limits of digital fabrication and creative programming.
Giannis Zois. Having as a starting point a mood for experimentation and a wish to explore the materials’ boundaries, Giannis Zois creates ceramic objects for which form plays a key role. He was born in Athens in 1978 and since 2014 has a ceramic studio at Koukaki. Between 2010 and 2012 he studied at the ceramic school of Nikaia. He then continued his education by attending seminar classes with Kostas Tarkasis and Menandros Papadopoulos. Since 2011 he has participated in several group exhibitions.
© Theodora Chorafas for the Benaki Museum Shop