Elena Votsi, Hydra myth

Design jewels, look at the sea, feel the breeze of creativity that is pushed by the waves to the shores of Hydra, the Greek island in the Aegean where there is a design legend, Elena Votsi. Like a mythological character, the designer has gathered around her a host of devoted followers. In addition to Hydra, the island where she was born and which is located near the Peloponnese, Elena Votsi has also opened a boutique in Athens. A predestined path, given that she has confessed that she has wanted to work with jewels since the age of ten. Then, you followed the classic path of many designers: you studied painting at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, but followed a Master’s degree in jewelery at the Royal College of Arts in London.

Back in Greece, she opened her first shop in Idra, in 1993. But in truth she gained international fame before her by designing for Gucci Casa in Florence. Don’t think that Elena, who bears the same name as the queen of Sparta protagonist of the Odyssey, is in love with the classic, slightly oriental goldsmith traditions of old Greece. Not at all: less is more, is her motto. Simple shapes, but marked by volumes capable of creating light and shadow. She also likes to design rather large pieces, «because it’s like painting on a large canvas», she explained. She is rather influenced by the sea she looks out of the window, by the Greek sun, by the boats in the port. You mainly use 18-karat yellow gold, perhaps combined with tourmalines, sapphires, white or black diamonds, rubies and tsavorites. A great satisfaction for Elena, which honors her origins, is to design the medals for the Olympics from the 2004 Athens games.