Selected pieces, necklaces& earrings, from previous and current collections, have been the focal point in this amazing collaboration between Nikos Vardakastanis and Nefelia. Nikos, a master in fashion photography, has created minimal images, contradicting but at the same time designating the bold character of Nefelia jewelry. Actress Nefeli Papaderou, acted in the same spirit throughout our photoshoot, thus resulting in a sophisticated editorial. Thank you both for this successful symbiosis.

             Minoan necklace

                Picasso earrings

                Minoan earrings

             Rainbow clutch

           Cyclope earrings

            Eye on you necklace                                                                    

          Eye on you earrings                                                                                            

Το Πωλητήριο του Μουσείου Μπενάκη παρουσιάζει το έργο της Nefelia στο Πωλητήριο της Πινακοθήκης Ν. Χατζηκυριάκου-Γκίκα, στα πλαίσια των παρουσιάσεων «Η Βιτρίνα της Κριεζώτου. Ένας καλλιτέχνης προτείνει.».

Η Nefelia είναι ένα brand κοσμημάτων και αντικειμένων που δημιουργήθηκε από την αρχιτέκτονα Νεφέλη Παπαναγιώτου, όταν σχεδίασε τη συλλογή «Eye On You», η οποία είναι διαθέσιμη στα Πωλητήρια του Μουσείου Μπενάκη από το 2013.

Nefelia out of fashion, in the official participation of The Balkan Fashion Week 2017, presented an installation called Mirror Mirror. A 14 minute theatrical surrealistic concept was executed with 5 models and Nefelia herself, the creative director behind the brand. 

The evil queen goes around numerous objects from various of our collections, only to hear that there is another competitor in the house! She looks herself in the mirror, she examines jewelry and purses that are appearing out of a white canvas on body parts of girls and in the end, she founds her enemy (Nefelia) and she chopes her head off in her greatest satisfaction!

" Mirror mirror" was a collaboration of professionals.

Many thanks to Weird Authentic People_the branding consulting company, to Loizos Kambouris _our art director, and Miss Catalina_the dj responsible for the mix of the original song " mirror mirror" by Violent Femmes.

This is a story inspired by an amazing sailing trip with Nefelia's friends!! It is a summer story about fights, betrayals and lust, but above all it is a story about faith in love!! Enjoy and let love be your guide too!!

"Priamos&Joy sailing away"

Once upon a time there was a great sailor called Don Posi...

He was the captain of a Greek bark named Priamos. He was fearless and all his men disliked him because of his demanding and harsh character, full of superstitions! He always wore the eyeonyou earring because of his fear that the crew would send him a terrible curse! So that way he avoided any bad luck that came upon him. His only REAL fear was not to come across any siren, for his only feebleness were women.

And as he feared, following a great storm that almost wrecked his bark, and while he sailed away under the pink colors of the sunset... He heard an enchanting music, an alluring song, and saw the mesmerizing vision of his greatest fear... 

The twin siren sisters, Argy and Argyrose...

Coming closer and as he was drawn to their magical half watermelon- half Nefelia floating bed, he heard in detail the words of their song... " a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor" They were scorning him!!! All his men started laughing at him and he was furious...!! But the sirens couldn't escape no more! They were carried to hold and were forced to stop singing until he decided what to do with them..

Meanwhile at the other side of the Aegean Sea, great Pirate Porto and his lady partner Piny, were conquering and fighting..

Once they heard that their friends the sirens were captive they changed the direction of their sails and led their trireme, "Joy", towards Priamos.. They had a plan -for their men were few and chances of winning a battle were scarce. They decided to gamble over the luck of the twins. They knew Don Posi was an over confident, arrogant sailor who would accept any challenge put by a woman.. But what he didn't know was that Piny was one of the greatest gamblers. She would bet, cheat and win against all men, and could easily handle a bottle of Jack Daniels by herself. But Once they arrived in Priamos they were faced with a surprise.

One of Don Posi's strongest men was Priamos cook, a Scottish 40 year old called Big Jimmy...

He was angry about his poor salary so he stirred up a rebellion amongst all men, who tied Don Posi on one of the masts, and took over Priamos! Once Joy arrived, narcissus sailor Sev -who always carried Janus mirror with him- and lover boy mr. Boz, dear friends who loved fighting and dreamed of becoming Priamos leaders one day, were already arm wrestling on who will gain a night with the sirens! But without the strong leadership of Don Posi, how could they fight pirate Porto and his lady Piny?... Night was falling and the battle was about to start... 

Everyone came on board for the battle!

A surgeon who had boarded Priamos in order to get off at Istanbul for a night-long operation, an illegal super star boxer who wanted to get off the country, gay sailor Tse, and of course Verona's dante with his girl! The battle was fierce, and nun Tina, captive in Joy, was praying for everyone to be saved! The twin sirens escaped but all the rest needed help. It was not long until night-mermaid Sandry appeared, who was helping all the wounded to get back on their boats, like a thief in the night... Swimming back and forth she carried and showed the way to the survivors... Upon dawn, peace finally arrived... But where was Don Posi?

During the battle Pirate Porto and lady Piny, had lost all their men and so decided to take revenge. They threw Don Posi in the sea and he had to fight with the big white shark who was hungry and waited for his meal...

During his fight all he could think about was his eternal childhood love.. Judy, the blonde girl back home was always dreaming about Don Posi returning to her arms. She believed in love and since she never had the courage to express her feelings, she had promised herself that she would wait for him to return from his voyages... They didn't know for sure each other feelings ... Would he make it?

The only one who could help Don Posi was Nefelia the fairy with the 4 eyes.

She could promise that love is timeless, for it could last a second or a lifetime. But only if Don Posi believed in this strength could he save himself. His voyages, his short- term love affairs, his adventures, all in the end led him to her... The moment he realized, he was able to fight back the big white shark and saved as he was, Nefelia flew him through the big blue of the Aegean, through pink sunsets and peach skies and thyme-smelling slopes, back to his childhood honey... his eternal sweetheart Judy..

And the moment they fell into each other's arms, at the other end of the sea, all heroes of Priamos and Joy joined in one forced unity so they could fight together against storms and troubles, against sea monsters, devils and enemies..

Nefelia promised to all of them that love would be forever true, like a tattoo, a million colors to the skin down...
THE END.

I wanted to write this blog post, to present my friend's work and our recent collaboration for "Andydote" fashion fair in Athens. Loula Levedi is a photographer and visual artist, creating- besides sensitive art photos- extravagant silk scarves. All prints are products of her wild imagination and extraordinary talent. She has a unique way to merge our Greek history and mythology with pop culture. You will find mythological figures such as Hercules, fighting with Lernaean Hydra, poisoned with love, or the statue of Caryatis carrying E.T on her shoulders! Little ponies mix with hellenic doric columns and Aphrodite becoming a 3d figure. All of these, strangely enough, become luxurious items through her artistic manner. I fell in love with her work, as she did with mine, and we decided to collaborate and show our work together in a fresh fashion trade fair, Andydote- https://www.facebook.com/andydotefashionfair/

The result should be an example to all of us creators, as to how powerful joined forces can be. Loula shared my creative stories, and so did I for her, to potential clients who were impressed by our presentation. We already know, both of us, that our work is not applied to all tastes. It is unique, weird, personal, and people either fall in love with it or trespass it because it is not "in fashion". We don't follow trends, and sometimes that we tried to, it was a complete disaster. A totem für elita, is Loula's brand. I am not sure what the concept behind the brand name is, all I know is that "Elita" is one of her best girlfriends, and the rest sounds as dreamy as one wants it to be!  What is important is the emotion that was born when I first heard it. The same emotion that is born every time I spend some time to "read" the stories in her scarves. They could be presented as paintings or collages as well, but I give it to her that she sticks to the scarves, because she wants every woman to be hugged by her story. So, she insists, to her fashionable art, and this year she presented a different collection. Etherial, softer, with Aphrodite as her main concept, emerging as a symbol of eternal beauty through the unique eyes of its talented creator. Loula Levedi's  unique aesthetics become lush silk scarves to be felt like jewels around a woman's body. 

For Andydote Fashion Fair, we decided to present our work in a different manner than the rest. Both our collections derive from our origin, our mythology, our history, our home, Greece. So it was more than natural to stick to an architecture that is familiar. White, cubist, straightforward but harmonious. We used white foam cubes in different sizes, that we combined in a puzzle of our own. Larger and smaller rectangles and cubes were placed in positions that we had already tested, so that they would act complimentary to our products and not distracting. We placed light behind our installation to give more depth to it, and then we started mix matching our work. 

 Our presentation Antigoni Vintiadi_founder of "Andydote" 

I have to say that for 4 days, we talked non stop to our clients, sharing with them the concept and visions behind our brands. Our presentation was part of who we are. Me , as an architect, and her, as a photographer, leading paths that were unknown while we were making our first steps in the fashion industry, learning from our mistakes but insisting on our dreams. 

We have more to do, more to share with you, as long as we keep on. I am more than happy to have met Loula and her outer spaced brand, A totem Fur elita. Enjoy her work, follow her and don't forget to stick to your dreams too, no matter what!

http://atotemfurelita.com/