When I remember how I traveled to Tinos every day a little bit for the last couple of months, it becomes clear that that special energy of anticipation would bring something different. Some people say that they don’t like to prepare for trips and that the best part for them is to just venture into the unknown. My venturing into the unknown remains ongoing in everyday life and is not necessarily connected to my travels. Explorations are visual, sensory experiences. We travel through images and sounds, not looking for facts about the origin.
Tinos managed to draw me into a fragrant microcosm where life is simple, and yet, due to the wild nature and incredible position of its villages in the hills, you can feel the constant excitement and movement. Slowing down to feel as much as possible is reminiscent of fine-tuning internal frequencies to suit Tinos.
If you imagine living in a small village on a hill where the only way to observe the world is from above, through the clouds and often strong winds that clear away any inner turmoil, there must be creativity, a part of nature spontaneously pouring over you.
This is exactly how Tinos attracted interesting people, who mostly had no previous experience or background connected with these regions. Anna Zinchenko (Katsika) told me that she thinks that it’s not the people who choose Tinos, it’s rather Tinos itself that chooses whoever is needed.
Maybe that’s how it found me. If nothing else, today I would like to tell you the story about people from Tinos who became dear to me. People worth coming back to anytime so that our experiences could mix again in a way some of their interesting dishes do, packed with local spices.
Katsika Tinos
I met Anna through Zoom, because she was not visiting Tinos at the same time as me. Through a couple of warm sentences, full of curiosity, she told me how she came to Tinos with her family, with the intention of finding a vacation house and staying here for a week. They stayed for three months and that’s when the idea to open her first shop was born. Anna is a long-time fashion stylist. She was sure that she wanted her shop to be in the spirit of summer and enjoyment. Summer selection of holiday clothes. Not a selection of brands from around the world, but rather her image of a woman from Tinos or some other island. She named the shop after the little goats, the mascots of the island. Katsika. Inspired by women in Ukraine and handiwork, she created her own collection of artisan shirts and skirts with embroidery. This part was particularly interesting to me because it reminds me of Serbian women and our and our handicrafts which is in distinction.
Anna is warm and creative. Her listener can feel the energy of creation while she’s speaking. Lightly and thoughtfully. She spoke inspiringly about Tinos and the artists this island attracts.
Katsika is a small, summer oasis for lovers of freedom, light materials and memorable details.
Taxidi Tinos
Taxidi Tinos is a gallery or multimedia space in the very center of Hora. It was born from the joint dreams of a married couple Virginie Muys (French-Belgian) and Mantos Kalumenis (Greek, from Tinos, the village of Kardiani) to make something for themselves on Tinos.
After a serious, global career in design, art and fashion, they came to Tinos and created this unusually peaceful space in a house with a courtyard, where once upon a time a great artist from Tinos had worked.
The space is designed for people who want to learn and absorb life: to slow down, discover, listen, connect and share. A small family of artists, an oasis of creativity. Inspired by Cycladic and Greek art, Taxidi Tinos does not only represent Greek artists, but it curiously explores and brings new artists from all over the world to the art scene of Tinos and Greece.
In the conversation with Virginie, I felt how important it is that the space in which we work, especially if that work is connected to art, resembles ourselves. She is sophisticated and respectful of life in its most powerful form. Simplicity as a self-sufficient story and luxury in the time of lost identities and hipster projects.
Here you can rest your eyes, buy yourself a small souvenir in the form of a mini clay sculpture from Diana Alexandra, learn about Greek mythology from an excellent selection of books, meet some new designers who make interesting hats or jewelry, and finally, sit in the courtyard where you can completely surrender to the intoxicating aromas of jasmine and roasted coffee, acompanied by the sound of the chatter of invisible birds. the courtyard where you can completely surrender to the intoxicating aromas of jasmine and roasted coffee, accompanied by the sound of the chatter of invisible birds.
Trela Tinos
Carol is from France. She studied art and has always lived in the world of creativity. Ever since she was a child, she loved to collect art objects. 18 years ago, she came to Tinos on vacation and fell in love with the island. She wanted to build a house in the village with a backyard and had been looking for a place like this for a long time…
Here she started restoring furniture, first for herself, and then for people who came to her house and admired the various objects that went through her creative hands.
Trela is not just an antique shop, but a place where art objects from all over the world live, objects that Carol has found and carefully brought back to life. This space resembles a theater scenography with old, refined details of furniture, paintings, books, crockery, ceramics. Carol also has a space for workshops and likes to pass on the knowledge she has gained in refurbishing furniture.
“I’ve always been obsessed with the past. When I was little, I used to talk to a relative from a photograph that could be found in my grandmother’s living room. I imagined that the people in the photo were alive. It’s the same with objects. I believe in the energy that lives in objects.”
“Each item in this shop has its own story. I know where I bought it and from whom, I know its past. When I sell a piece of furniture, I want to know where it ends, where it will belong. I like to participate in the life of the items I found.”
Trela means “a little crazy” in Greek. Locals here do not call her by her first and last name. They call her Carol Trela.
Zosma
Ah, Zosma is a place that is not easy to describe. Zosma is Theo, artist, designer, virtuoso. Conceptual artist. Visionary. And then a warm, witty young man who seduces with his uniqueness.
Theo Anastasato was born in New York and has Austrian and Greek origins. He studied fashion design at the prestigious Center Saint Martins School in London and worked for Vivienne Westwood in London and Tokyo.
And then he wanted to develop his own artistic talent so he came to Mykonos, and afterwards, a couple of years ago, to Tinos.
His style is most reminiscent of an eclectic mix: items that celebrate Greek heritage and often combine deep historical and religious motifs with contemporary fashion. In all of that there is a lot of humor as well as personal reflections on the modern world.
Teo uses various techniques and mixed media. His favorite decorative collages are inspired by paper or watercolor collages, which he restores by sewing layers of silk, linen and metal threads. In the center of his studio is an old sewing machine.
One of his projects was inspired by the ritual of making Greek coffee. Well, speaking of coffee, Theo adores his neighbors and they adore him. Sometimes she sews something for her dear neighbor who loves Versace style from the 80s.
Theo reminds me of the costume designers in the theater who always carry some samples of the most interesting materials, sketches and a little safety pin in the lapel in case something needs to be fixed on the spot. He can easily become your close friend who helps you turn the world upside down, like a playful child creating a masterpiece from a needle, thread, beads and a metal detail in the shape of your ear or nose (those who understand, will share it further🤣).
Sabrina Binda
Unique and delicate ceramics studio in the center of Hora. Sabrina creates ceramic cups, plates, lamps with a strong artistic expression. Her energy and the elements she creates seem to emerge out of nature, breathing with the island and the people who are attracted to this peaceful and sophisticated place.
Sabrina is a photo stylist from Paris. She has been living with her family on Tinos for a long time.
Her work goes in two directions: introducing adults and children to her craft through courses and workshops, as well as researching and producing ceramics and unique items. Whether it is earthenware, stoneware or porcelain, on the wheel, modeling or molding, her work focuses on functional and refined forms, in search of a point of balance between fragility and durability. She specially developed her own series of enamels.
It’s that moment you take a break and a deep breath. A place of creation where the energy of Tinos intersects with the energy of passers-by, art lovers or those inspiration carrying souls who come to exchanges it with the artist.
….
I will make a pause here; it’s time for self-talk. Meeting Sabrina has completed my exploration of Tinos. Now is the time for silence, I close my eyes and simply breathe. Inhale, exhale.
Until the next meeting.
Written by Nataša Nikodijević Savin @myjourney.rs
Photos by Senja Vild @senjamafn and @myjourney.rs
