Ο Παντελής Μελισσινός με τη διάσημη τραγουδίστρια και νεανικό είδωλο Ευριδίκη
“Our sandals had now begun to walk proudly or lazily the streets of Athens, Mykonos, New York and other cosmopolitan places”
In the old Athenian neighborhood of Lord Byron, in Psyrri, there is a shop where the ancient Greek spirit meets modern art and the result is handmade objects of unique beauty. There, you can find the artistic sandals and jewelry of Pantelis Melissinos. The artist and Sandal Maker spoke to “Espresso tis Kyriakis” about the history of the store, the current financial crisis and his famous customers …
– How did you decide to get involved with Art and creation?
“I was born into an artistic family and grew up under the shadow of the Acropolis. Our historic and internationally famous sandal workshop, in the Plaka area of Athens was a favorite haunt of Greek intellectuals like the painter Tsarouchis, Simon “The Existential Philosopher”, Koundouros the film director, Kampanelis the writer and Argyrakis the artist. Their conversations travelled me to fascinating worlds. So, from an early age, I was attracted to the arts and especially painting. When graduated from high school I joined painting workshop that prepared students for the School of Fine Arts in Athens.
I wanted to learn the secrets of Art, but instead I learned the secret of how one would get admitted to the School of fine Arts. It was all done through favoritism and other shady ways. Without wasting any time I decided to leave for the US, which , at the time seemed to be a wonderful new place for a young artist, away from the old ways of Europe, with its decadent grandeur. I took my portfolio to the renowned Parsons School of Design, in New York and i was immediately admitted to the school. There I got my degree BFA in Illustration and later my Master’s Degree in Painting. After graduation I worked as a set and costume designer at the Greek Culture Center, in New York City and later on I took over as its Artistic Director“.
– What are your suggestions for this summer’s sandals?
“I would suggest that women follow the middle way. The new Bollywood kind of sandals that are now in fashion, with all the glitter and fancy ornaments, bows and tassels, bells and what have you, do not flatter the feet at all, and especially the plumpy ones – it makes them look like kitsch Christmas trees.”
– Which famous Greeks and foreigners have visited your store?
“Sophia Loren, Jackie Onassis, Queen of Spain, Rudolf Nureyev, The Beatles, Melina Mercouri, Giannis Tsarouchis, Maria Callas, Barbra Streisand, Jeremy Irons, Kate Moss and countless others, and recently the wife and daughter of Joe Biden the Vice-President of USA with her huge detail of secret agent and her entourage”.
– Which Greek celebrities are fans of your store?
“Those who, from time to time, have mentioned my name in interviews they give to the MSM and whom you can see sunbathing at the beach on the Greek islands, wearing my sandals”.
– How is this year’s tourist season with the current crisis?
“It Sucks. The crisis is endemic, here in Greece and it has to do with the mentality and culture. Here, from the first to the last citizen of this country, they don’t have a social conscience, but a very selfish attitude and they don’t understand we are all interdependent and that the solution is solidarity”.
– Do you face financial problems?
Like everyone else, with these anti-growth measures we are facing huge financial problems.
– What are your prices today? Are they affordable?
“My prices have been the same for years now, while the cost of running a business is constantly rising”.
– What are your future plans?
“My plans are to survive this period of spiritual and moral cholera by getting more involved in artistic creation, which works therapeutically. Also, i’d like to advertise Greece from this little sandal workshop of mine which has been characterized, here an abroad as an Athenian landmark, second only to the Parthenon, and which offers handmade Greek sandals along with art and poetry”.
THE “SPARTIAN” THAT WROTE HISTORY
– Tell us about the history of your store…
“Our sandal workshop was founded in 1920 by my grandfather Georgios Melissinos, who was actually famous not so much for his sandals but for his hiking shoes – they were bought by farmers as well as members of high society for hiking trips. The queen of Greece and her entourage loved to stroll down to the Monastiraki to get those shoes from my grandfather and to also visit the nearby antique shops. When my grandfather died in 1955, his son – my father – Stavros ,who was then newly married and studying film, had to take over the business. In those post-war years in the 1950s, everything seemed bleak.
But one day, in the mid-50s my father got a visit from an english lady, whom my mother, Sophia, called an angel, because she brought us good luck. She was a choreographer and placed an order for six pairs of ancient Greek sandals for a choreography, based on an ancient Greek theme.
My father at first refused, because he was busy with his poetry, but my mother reminded him of the tragic financial situation in Greece and so, he made a model, which he called the “Spartan”, a model with long straps tied around the calf. For his own satisfaction, he made some or of these sandals and hung them in his display window.
The first, post war young American tourists, who walked the narrow streets of Monastiraki, saw them and were very happy to discover that these archaic sandals were a perfect match for their 1950’s more casual clothes. They started buying them like hot cakes. My father started making more money that he could never imagine from these ancient Greek sandals and so he said to his craftsmen, “we stop the production of shoes and we start the production of my ancient Greek sandals.”
THE BEATLES
“My father brought back to life the Ancient Greek sandals after so many thousands of years. His sandals now invaded the fashion world and the shoe market for everyday use. Some shopkeepers in Monastiraki, seeing our shop loaded with ancient Greek sandals, laughed ironically. “The son of the old man Melissinos has gone crazy”. But their smiles froze on their faces, when the Beatles showed up and left our store with my father’s sandals on their feet. A new fashion trend was born for the young people of the 60s and there was a huge demand for the sandals my father was designing.
Our sandals had now begun to walk proudly the streets of Athens, Mykonos, New York and many other cosmopolitan places. They were worn by the international jet set, intellectuals and hippies. So, suddenly, all the merchants, in the Plaka area and the historic center of Athens, who used to sell tools, threads, barbed wire, tires etc, called themselves sandal makers and started selling mass-produced imitations of our sandals, as handmade Greek footwear. At some point, their greed for profit cheapened the quality of the sandals, so much that the Greek public lost interest.
Nevertheless, the sandals, inspired by ancient Greece, which my father made in the ’50s and’ 60s as a daily dressing accessory, still dominates the world of fashion today”.
Sasa Stamatis for “Espresso tis Kyriakis”/ Athens, Tuesday, August 16, 2011 – 23:10