ELENA VASILANTONAKI

Elena Vasilantonaki’s work is rooted in a place long considered the cradle of civilization, art, and craft – the cultural heritage of the Mediterranean region and the ancient tradition of Greek ceramics.

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She skillfully merges ancestral legacy with deeply personal storytelling, drawing on her spiritual depth and sensitivity to the world. Her artistic journey reflects a search for identity, continuity, and belonging – values she lacked in childhood, growing up in a constantly shifting environment.

Working with clay – physical, mindful, almost ritualistic – became a way to anchor herself, restore coherence, and begin healing from personal wounds. From the very beginning, ceramics became more than craft – they became a way of living, thinking, and feeling.

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Her creative process transformed into a personal practice of self-discovery and inner healing – a path back to her own sense of continuity and identity. In her work, Elena consciously references archetypal forms of ancient Greek vessels, reinterpreting them through the lens of personal experience and emotion. She also draws inspiration from the landscape around her – its rhythms, colors, and textures.

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Each piece is shaped slowly, by hand, using the coiling method – an ancient technique requiring patience, focus, and full physical presence. Her vessels – bowls, amphorae, vases – are one-of-a-kind objects, made in silence and in dialogue with the natural rhythm of the material. Rather than striving for perfection, she seeks truth – highlighting the marks of process: irregularities, subtle textures, rawness, imperfections. She invites us to contemplate, to touch, to celebrate the beauty that emerges from authenticity rather than flawlessness. She wants the experience of her ceramics to be sensual and emotional – to stir something within, spark reflection, or offer quiet comfort.

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Her aesthetic brings together the classical forms of Greece with the spirit of wabi-sabi – a minimalist, organic, consciously imperfect philosophy. Natural elements – ash, sand, fragments of shell – often appear in her work, collected during her travels, especially across Crete, where she practices smoke firing.

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Photography is Elena’s second passion – like ceramics, it seeks to capture fleeting traces of presence: architectural details, rock formations, textures of the land. These luminous, tender images reflect her sensitivity and often become a source of creative inspiration.

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Elena Vasilantonaki’s art is a contemporary voice in dialogue with tradition – a material story of memory, rootedness, and spiritual presence. She does not recreate the past but allows it to resonate in forms shaped through silence, concentration, and intimacy with matter.
In a world driven by excess and haste, her objects restore attention to what is fragile, enduring, and true.