Greece Archives | gioiellis.com

Theodora’s lines

Published on November 19, 2022

Anello Entos in argento placcato oro e diamanti, indossato

In Athens, the designer Theodora Daraklitsa creates jewelry outside the box. And she surprises ♦ ︎

Theodora is a Greek designer from Athens, one of those cities in the world that concentrates a large number of highly creative jewelry makers. To this elite of innovators belongs Theodora Daraklitsa, who founded her brand Theodora D. She is a rather eclectic designer: she does not stop at jewelry, but has also worked in the fashion and clothing sector. Perhaps it was precisely this ability to extend her interests beyond a single area that allowed her to free style and imagination.

Her style? She calls it a legacy of Romanticism and Postmodernism. The materials she uses are precious, gold and silver. And the jewels are handmade, unique pieces. Theodora D’s creations, she explains, are inspired by his personal travels in Greece, Italy and around the world and refer to her experiences, studies and practices in fashion, art history and sculpture and, of course, the her passion in jewelry design and production.

Orecchini Palmos in argento placcato oro

Yannis Sergakis, simple architecture

Published on October 1, 2022

Showroom

The Greek designer Yannis Sergakis from the jewelery store at the contemporary art exhibition Documenta 14 in Kassel. And the new collection called Solaire ♦
Among the winners of the Awards at the Couture Show 2016 in Las Vegas it is also Yannis Sergakis (you can read the article here). Yannis is a descendant of a merchant family of Greek diamonds. In short, he touched the diamonds when he was child and he is been convinced. So, once he is grown, he made collection of jewelry and continued the tradition of trading. Let’s face it: trading it is a useful job, perhaps even profitable, but not too much fun. Much better designing jewelry. After studying gemology and design at the Gemological Institute of America, Sergakis has therefore worked in the family business until 2004, when he opted for the creative activity of the designer.

Greece is one of the countries that boasts several new generation jewelers and all follow a style that is simplistic to define minimalist, but that certainly is not Baroque. Sergakis is no different: his jewels are richly minimal. Clean lines, gold and diamonds in neat rows. References that he has revealed are the architecture (the classic one, it goes without saying), textiles, people, senses, shapes, feelings. He works exclusively with gold and diamonds. A simple idea, as the shape of the Parthenon, but not for this less than perfect. A collection, for example, is called Solaire and adopts rounded lines, and uses as a sun a diamond that shines surrounded by gold.
But Yannis Sergakis’s work is also considered in the field of art, not just of jewelery. So much so that in June 2017 he participated in Documenta 14, a 60-year-old exhibition in Kassel (Germany), that hosted over 160 artists. Sergakis contributed with two pieces, each in two colors; one for Athens, one for Kassel.

Pendente della collezione Charnière in oro e diamanti

Orecchini realizzati in oro giallo 18 carati e nero con diamanti bianchi

Ciondolo in oro giallo 18 carati e nero con diamanti bianchi

Anello realizzato in oro 18k giallo e nero con diamanti bianchi

Yannis Sergakis, bracciale per Documenta 14

The bijoux by Katerina Psoma

Published on July 19, 2022

/bracciale/COLLANE

Orecchini in ottone placcato argento e oro

Innovative bijoux by the Greek designer Katerina Psoma, between fashion, design and classicism ♦

When she was 15 Katerina Psoma loved spending time in her mother’s fashion boutique in Athens. In particular, she liked the clothes of Moschino, one of the most innovative Italian designers. In short, Katerina Psoma fell in love before fashion, then jewelry, but always as a complement to the dresses. You know, bijoux, but classy, like the clothes she admired when she was a girl in the boutique.

Orecchini in argento placcato oro con gemme sintetiche

The study of the history of art in Rome and London has also influenced the style adopted by her fashion bijoux. From art to design the step was short. In the field of design, for example, Katerina has also chosen the abstract style of Memphis, the current created by the Italian architect Ettore Sottsass. But, as often happens, the roots are also re-evaluated over the years: for this reason, in the jewels created with acrylic and brass materials there are often references to the classical Greek shapes.
Katerina Psoma does not use precious materials, but the selection is in any case accurate: vintage finds, Murano glass, antique beads, carved jade and translucent semi-precious stones, together with the acrylic material are some of the bases she has chosen for her pieces. Alessia Mongrando

Collana Drusilla in ottone placcato e cristalli

Collana in ottone placcato oro, ceramiche siciliane, fiori acrilici, perle di vetro

Collana in ottone placcato, argento, con vetri turchesi

Katerina Psoma (da Instagram) — Katerina Psoma (immagine da Instagram)

Orecchini in ottone placcato, argento, vetro turchese

Alkemeya’s alchemy

Published on November 8, 2021

Rings/Showroom/COLLANE

Anello in oro 18 carati con ametista menta

For Greek mythology, Daphne was a nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, rivers, streams and other bodies of fresh water. And this is because, for a charm by Cupid, she was harassed by the god Apollo who wanted to make love with her. For this she asked her father, the river god Penaeus, of her to save her from Apollo’s stalking. Result: to remove her from the clutches of Apollo, Peneus transformed her into a laurel tree. Nice consolation. Fortunately for her, Daphne Tsitsiliani, Greek, did not face similar dangers. She lived for over a decade in London and Paris, before returning to her country home in Athens and raising her daughter.

The land of origin, after a career in the world of communication, has created its own jewelry brand: Alkemeya. A reference to alchemy, the ancestor of chemistry, which is also a concept linked to the art of knowing how to mix different substances. But also a reference to the past. And, indeed, jewelry can be associated with memories.

The brand’s alchemical jewels rely on well-tested ingredients: 14 or 18 karat gold and precious stones. The Forêt collection is inspired by nature, while the Urano collection is inspired by the sky, the moon, the stars and planets. The Egyptian collection refers to the ancient civilization of the Pharaohs. The jewels are also sold online.

Collana Dragonfly in oro 18 carati e smeraldi

Anelo Dragonfly in oro 18 carati, smeraldi e diamanti

Etho Maria, high jewelery with a Greek accent

Published on December 26, 2019

Rings/Showroom

Anello multi band con diamanti e ceramica

Etho Maria, Greek expression that sounds like “come here Maria” is an international jewelry brand originating from Athens, Greece, where it still has a headquarters. But today it also has branches in Milan and Florida. Etho Maria, a brand born in 1992 as Lithos, shuns so much to make its history known, and to give a face to its business, which has practically eliminated even the website, which is limited to a page with the address.

And yet, despite this low communication profile, which does not break even when you go personally to ask for information, for example in Baselworld, Etho Maria has managed to make itself appreciated internationally. His gold, red ceramic and diamond jewels, for example, surprised high jewelry enthusiasts a couple of years ago.

Orecchini in oro bianco, diamanti e zaffiri blu

Orecchini della Red Collection con diamanti e smalto

Orecchini circolari della Red Collection con diamanti e smalto

Ileana Makri’s blades of grass

Published on April 16, 2019

Rings/bracciale/Showroom/COLLANE

Orecchini a cerchio in oro giallo lucido e smeraldi

Green and the Greek sun in the Grass collection by Ileana Makri: gold and emeralds with a pinch of champagne diamonds ♦ ︎

The Greek islands, immersed in an intense blue of Mediterranean Sea, seem burned to the tourists who crowd their sunny beaches during the summer. But actually they are green the rest of the year. The summer sun and the green of the trees inspired jewelry designer Ileana Makri to design the Grass collection. The grass, in fact, gives shape to jewels, with long strands covered with emeralds, or in gold like those burned by the summer sun, with some sparkle of champagne diamonds, like the foam of the waves that break on the shoreline.

Ileana Makri, in fact, has a great passion for travel, but in the first place still remains the land where Western culture was born, Greece. After graduating in Business Administration, the designer chose to follow her true passion and studied jewelry design at the Gia (Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica). It was a successful choice: from Athens, her jewelry was immediately sold by Barneys in New York. So many collections later, Ileana has won fans like Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum, Lenny Kravitz, Faith Hill, Rita Wilson, Ashley Olsen, Courtney Cox and Debra Messing.

Orecchini con smeraldi e diamanti champagne

Ileana Makri, anello della collezione Grass

BRacciale in oro, diamanti e smeraldi — Bracciale in oro, diamanti e smeraldi

Orecchini a mezza luna della collezione Grass