Atopos, the team behind the show
Born to Greek parents in London in 1951, Stamos John Fafalios is the founding father of Atopos. Director of London-based Fafalios Ltd shipbrokers since the early 1970s, architect and lover of the arts Fafalios has a long history in promoting Greek causes. He recently spoke to Kathimerini English Edition. How did Atopos come about, and what is the idea behind the organization? I first met Vassilis [Zidianakis] in 1999, when I was taking part in a play in London for which he was designing the costumes; his talent was immediately apparent. After that we kept in touch, and in 2001 we worked together on a project for a client in Greece which Vassilis designed and choreographed. Following that successful collaboration and seeing how much the work was appreciated, we began considering the possibility of working together on a more permanent basis. We were also encouraged at the time by the energy and new talent emerging from Greece during the runup to the Olympics. I have always been interested in the arts, and having grown up and benefited from living in London, it was natural for me to do whatever I could to promote the arts in Greece. Thus, we founded Atopos in 2003. It is an international, non-profit organization which works closely with emerging talent on research projects focusing on new technologies. Our intention is to present innovative projects that will bring together contemporary arts, fashion and design. Atopos is also interested in looking at the past and reinterpreting it in relation to the present. Atopos has a dual character. Could you tell us a little bit about its local as well as its global scope? Atopos is interested in the contemporary arts, fashion and design. Its objective is to initiate projects, exhibitions and events which are based on current international themes and trends within Greece, and then, if appropriate, to take them abroad. Atopos wants to explore new ways of presenting exhibitions and an alternative way of looking at an exhibition’s subject matter. As for its global scope, Atopos would like, in its modest way, to promote abroad Greece’s homegrown talent. Do you feel that fashion is an increasingly important player in world affairs? Financially, socially, as a form of expression, as museum material, for instance? If you mean «fashion» in relation to lifestyle, then, yes, I do think it has become increasingly important in our culture. The boundaries between fashion, design and lifestyle have now become so blurred that fashion – or mode, a more appropriate word – can be said to dictate the way we live, dress and sleep, the way we eat and entertain and even the way we travel. If you mean «fashion» in relation to clothing, then I see it as an art form and as with any work of art, I appreciate the design, the material and the quality of workmanship that goes into making the piece. What is Atopos working on at the moment? More projects? We are continuing our research into paper clothing, with particular interest in Japan, China and the Far East in general. We are preparing a pared-down version of the exhibition for London this September. The exhibition will be held at the Hellenic Center and will coincide with London Fashion Week. There are other invitations from abroad for the exhibition in its present format, but I would rather not say anything further at this stage. What is your dream for Atopos? My first dream is a practical one. I would like to see Atopos housed under its own roof, with facilities for offices, workshop/studio, exhibition space and museum-standard storage. If this were to be possible we would then be free to pursue whatever project we would be working on without having to worry about such matters. At the moment we are the guardians of what we believe to be the world’s largest collection of American throwaway paper dresses of the 1960s; this is an enormous responsibility and has to be taken seriously. We are still researching and cataloging the collection (it is growing daily); we have to decide, depending on funds available, which pieces require immediate restoration and we then have to see that everything is conserved and stored correctly. My second dream would be that Atopos will always be able to pursue whatever it chooses to do with passion, originality and, above all, quality. I am a firm believer that in the end it is the quality of whatever you do that counts – the quality of your work, the quality of your presentation and the quality of how you address the viewer. My next dream, for the time being, is that people will enjoy what we do, as they seem to be doing with our current exhibition.
