Kostis ceramics, tradition and blue as eternity
Follow the authentic ceramics of the island of Thassos.
If you ask Google what to see in Thassos unchanging among the top 10 is a visit to the pottery workshop of Kostis. A visit to his small shop at the end of the southwestern part of Limenas (the capital of Thassos) is simply a must. Here you can buy original dish, bowl, cup, vase … made by the master and bearing the spirit of the island’s traditions. The workshop is like a fairy-tale house and everyone can find and take away the object he likes best as a nice holiday memorial. Its workshop is on the beach, and there are signs from the road and from the sea. From the furnace to the boat are literally a few meters, and all this is for the purpose of easier transportation of ceramics. Still, we are on an island, and the ceramics are heavy and should be easy to transport.
Kostis is the only one who currently continues the tradition of ceramics on the island of Thassos.
Craft known over 3000 years in these lands. His grandfather founded the potter’s workshop in 1912, and Kostis extends his family tradition to this day. He prepares his own glaze from old family recipes. Once they have even made clay themselves. He is inspired from both, ancient Greek motifs and modern life.
He picks up a large piece of clay and turns the wheel to sculpt a beautiful amphora in front of our stunned looks and, with a wink, gives us the secret of how it makes the antique cracked effect on clay, namely vinegar. There are, of course, many secrets that keep with a smile for themselves, such as how he achieve these fantastic shades of blue, from azure light and warm to deep, dark and absorbing. Such colors have only been seen here and I confess that I am directly addicted to buying his dishes, offering and photographing food in them.
I ask him how big the biggest court is – the pot or the amphora who went out of his studio, and he laughs and says it is not important how big a court he can do, but how small he can. In front of our eyes, he sculpts a mini cruse, a miniature of the big ones. He also shows us his entire collection of dwarfs – vessels smaller than the claw.
At Kostis you can also attend a course on ceramics. Get in the workshop for sure. The meeting with a creator like Kostis will give the color and taste to your trip to the island.
