Greece is famous not only for Greek jewelry, wine
and olive oil but also for traditional Greek sandals and for that too, one shop
is most known. “The MELISSINOS ART! Artist Sandal Maker who puts art on your
feet.” - It is said and he is indeed one of the best traditional shoe-makers in
Europe.
A historic leather footwear shop which started in
1920 by Georgios Melissinos, who used to make ancient looking sandals mainly
for theatrical productions and the tradition of family sandal business was
carried forward by his son Stavros Melissinos and grandson Pantelis Melissinos.
But Stavros Melissinos made the same sandals for everyday life and people made
fun of him until Sophia Loren walked into his store, sometime in 1950s and
today they are called the God of sandals.
There are even imitations of Melissinos originals.
The shop and the Melissinos are famous in Athens not
only because of the beauty and perfection in their creation, which is very much
visible the moment you enter their gallery, but there are other reasons too.
One, there is a name for perhaps every creation. These
names have been kept on the famous ancient personalities of Greece like Number
7 is Cleopatra, Number 24 is Socrates and No. 21 is Plato, designs, very much
match the respective personalities.
Two, some have even been named after the celebrities
and royal people who bought it or perhaps got it designed for themselves like
No. 20 is Jackie O (named after Jacqueline Onassis, wife of John F Kennedy, the
erstwhile President of USA) and No. 25 is Sophia Loren (the very famous actress
and singer from Italy).
Three, this is a shop of not only a sandal-maker but
much more. Pantelis Melissinos is a Playwright, Artist, Designer, Sandal Maker,
Poet and composer too. His father Stavros Melissinos has been the celebrated
Poet Sandal-Maker of Athens.
Matt Barrett in his “Top Ten Things to do in Athens”
mentions “The Poet Sandal Maker” as one of the must meet person in his
Athensguide.com. He also writes, “Where
else in the world can you find a guy who is a published poet, a really famous
one at that, whose works have been translated into English, French, German and
Italian and his best known work The Rubaiyat is on the
curriculum of a number of American universities and is one of the most
beautiful tributes to wine and life that I know of, and who makes sandals for a
living?................. Visit him on tiny Ag Theklas street across from
Monastiraki Square or visit his statue someday and say "Damn. I could have
met him in person and bought some sandals too!”
And so I met him too.
The moment I entered the workshop, I met Pantelis
Melissinos, son of Stavros Melissinos, running his fingers on the keyboard. He
greeted us and we could feel his charismatic personality and hospitality amidst
the hung sandals and bags. Though I told him that I won’t buy the sandals,
which were really tempting, but they were using cow leather too, and that I was
there to meet the Artist he is, he immediately pulled out his latest collection
of poems “Oedipus in Bed and other poems” and gifted me with a note.
The walls of the shop are decorated with sandals,
bags, books of his father’s poetry and copies of his own plays, art works and
notes and letters of appreciation
Believe me, I really wanted to own one sandal from
this famous shop, very simple and beautiful designs, (some appeared like our traditional
Kolhapuri and some trendy too and the designs of cleopatra and Mycenean impressed
me a lot) and they are not too much costly. I just wished, if he had used something
else.
He is sometimes even called ‘a true Renaissance Man’
and I could see, in the names of the sandals and their designs which are quite
Greek and traditional, yet loved by people today. His work on Oedipus, a
mythical Greek King, proves the same and so does his famous play “Bacchus” – A musical
Comedy relating to ancient Greek myths and tradition which has earned a lot of
fame.
Eversince 1920, Melissionos has been featured in
many newspapers, magazines and TV programmes. They have received letters and
notes of appreciation from Prince of Wales, Queen of Spain, Lily Tomlin, Barbra
Streizand etc.
The visit was truly worth it.
Check out yourself at http://www.melissinos-art.com/eng/sandals.html
or at their fb page melissinos art -the poet sandal maker.
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