{"id":2242,"date":"2024-03-24T23:11:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T20:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splashmagazine.net\/?p=2242"},"modified":"2024-03-25T16:08:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T13:08:05","slug":"%ce%b1risteidis-tzonevrakis-the-artisan-who-insists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splashmagazine.net\/?p=2242","title":{"rendered":"The artisan who insists"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Story by Alexis Adam<\/p>\n

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I met him 3-4 years ago when Athena Matisse<\/strong> wore “his” famous \u201cdulama\u201d<\/strong> on one of her\u00a0 Plan B Trends<\/strong> projects, after the encouragement-recommendation, of course, of PLI – the former Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation “B. Papantoniou”.. I met him, for the first time, at the beginning of December, this year, when we made his portrait as one of the 50 most important Greek Men.<\/p>\n

Hidden in the tiny alleys of Argos, his workshop, ARISTOTECHNIMA<\/strong>. A Paradise of colors and materials. With looms and threads. With papers and pencils. With books. With modern machines and tones of\u00a0 incredible fabrics. Above all, however, a space with love and imagination. With a creative smell of…Greece!<\/p>\n

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“But this workshop, why not in Athens?” ” I asked him.<\/p>\n

”Why in Athens?” he answered me and thus began a conversation that went from his experience as a ‘caretaker in a ‘loaner’ wardrobe to his meeting with Maria Grazia Chiuri<\/strong>, the Creative Director of DIOR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“How did you feel in Kallimarmaro?”<\/p>\n

“Awe and emotion, because this is Greece!”<\/p>\n

Talking with him you understand that “only with stubbornness and hard work can you produce a great work” and thus “consolidate your reputation and what you stand for”.<\/p>\n

The way he presented his\u00a0 creations, unique. He knew what each region of the country wears and how it arrived at the specific form.<\/p>\n

\u201cA uniform is not a suit. It’s a costume,”<\/strong><\/em> he said and sat down at the sewing machine to embroider us a design from an island of Aegean. It’s as if he was painting and showing off his work.<\/p>\n

“Do they buy your creations for everyday use?” – provocative question.<\/p>\n

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“Shirts, overcoats and waistcoats, but only searched and suspected people”, was the answer and everyone got into their place.<\/p>\n

. However Tzonevrakis does not live alone, with his creative loneliness. Schools, institutes and institutions visit him with the aim of getting to know tradition and to “feel it as a part of everyday life, because Tradition is something alive and it is NOT just about parades!” he said and the conversation ended with the photo shoot for the IMPORTANT people of Plan B trends._<\/p>\n

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