By Margarita Pournara - Kathimerini

Ermoupoli, the capital of the Cyclades, is one of the country’s most special towns. It was developed in just a few decades following the 1821 revolution, with an influx of refugees coming from Chios, Psarra, Crete, Kassos and other places which at the time were under Turkish occupation. The town’s present architecture remains a silent witness to the extraordinary elements of culture which developed on the island.

“Memories of Furniture in Contemporary Design,” an exhibition which opened at Ermoupolis’s Industrial Museum recently, is an impressive effort made by designer Rosalia Ioannidou to show the numerous links of the cultural chain which connect the past to the present.

In collaboration with the Center for Modern Greek Studies and together with the invaluable help of its director, Vassilis Panagiotopoulos, Ioannidou immersed herself in broad two-year research on local furniture. Besides tracing the origins and history of local pieces of furniture, Ioannidou’s also drew inspiration from the past to create her own, brand-new collection of furniture.

Visitors at the Industrial Museum will be able to see eight beautifully crafted pieces of furniture from the past — each exquisite piece reflects its owner’s position in society. Next to the old stands the new, namely the collection designed by Ioannidou, in which old chairs or tables are accompanied by charming, modern and practical ‘granddaughters.’ Yiannis Deloudis, a top businessman in the furniture import market who was present at the opening, has offered to promote this collection abroad.

In order to select the exhibition’s older pieces, Ioannidou divided the furniture according to form and construction, utlimately dividing them into three categories.

The first category includes furniture belonging to the wealthy upper class, whose taste was clearly influenced by European standards and trends. The second category includes the developing middle class, whose leading desire was to imitate the aesthetic criteria of the upper class, while the third category concentrates on the lower class, who owned primarily traditional local furniture. Out of the three categories, Ioannidou extracted a number of design elements that ultimately became the basis for her inspiration in developing the contemporary line.

“I believe in the existence of a cultural chain. The reason why many believe there is no such thing as Greek design could be because there is no record of those pieces which could prove it exists. Perhaps furniture design in the past was particularly bland and aimed at practicality, yet I believe that what we refer to today as minimalistic has flattened everything in the last few years. I am optimistic that in the future, Greek design will flourish by displaying its own particular cultural identity,” explained Ioannidou. “Furthermore, the aim of the Greek Secretariat for Industrial Design is to take under its wings anyone interested in design; whether they are designers, industrialists, or just ordinary citizens. We must not forget that all the objects that surround us create some kind of ‘addiction,’ a way of looking at things and that is why we must be very careful when we choose them.”

“Memories of Furniture in Contemporary Design” runs to August 30.