nóema exhibition examines the evolving language of greek craft in athens beyond tradition

Tomas Kauer - News Writer and News Moderator

nóema exhibition examines the evolving language of greek craft in athens beyond tradition

Nóema craft prize exhibition brings together 15 emerging makers

The inaugural Nóema Craft Prize exhibition is on view inside the former Public Tobacco Factory of the Hellenic Parliament in Athens, introducing an emerging cultural platform that places contemporary craft at the center of conversations around design, architecture, art, and emerging technologies. The presentation frames craft as an evolving discipline through the work of 15 finalists who reinterpret inherited techniques to address questions of identity, ecology, material experimentation, and social change.

The exhibition also marks the announcement of the first Nóema Craft Prize winner, with the jury awarding Kostas Lambridis for It’s Not Enough, a large-scale work that combines marble, granite, ceramic, minerals, steel, aluminum, brass, copper, wood, and plastic in a deliberately exposed construction that challenges conventional material hierarchies. The jury also presented special mentions to Dimitra Konstantinidi for Mother’s Hug, 5+1 Stories Spoken Through the Caryatids, and Shekine Naidi for Meteorite.

Nóema positions itself as an interdisciplinary platform connecting artisans, designers, artists, architects, and researchers. The first edition of the prize attracted hundreds of submissions from across Greece, reflecting renewed interest in practices rooted in regional knowledge while engaging contemporary concerns. Across the exhibition, traditional materials, including marble, wool, clay, weaving, and wood, are paired with reclaimed industrial waste, biomaterials, and experimental fabrication processes that expand conventional definitions of craft.

all images by Stathis Mamalakis

Sculpture and craft address contemporary issues

Several projects use familiar materials to confront urgent social issues. Argiris Rallias’ Dowry transforms marble and a domestic bedside table into a memorial dedicated to victims of femicide, revisiting the historical tradition of the dowry through sculpture. Special Mention recipient Dimitra Konstantinidi’s large-scale textile installation Mother’s Hug, 5+1 Stories Spoken Through the Caryatids reimagines the Caryatid as a contemporary figure carrying narratives of displacement and collective responsibility through embroidery and soft architecture. Alexia Psaradeli’s ceramic installation Mīres draws on a Balkan myth surrounding roof-tile production to examine femininity and labor.

Material experimentation forms another recurring thread throughout the multidisciplinary cultural platform’s exhibition. Ariadne Strofylla assembles a four-meter ceramic centipede from dozens of individually fired stoneware components enriched with foraged minerals, while Giorgos Vavatsis incorporates raw clays collected from Mount Chortiatis to create sculptural landscapes. Prize winner Kostas Lambridis continues his long-standing investigation into material hierarchies with It’s Not Enough, combining stone, wood, metals, and plastics in a deliberately exposed construction that foregrounds process.

works by the finalists occupy the historic industrial interiors

A new generation redefines Greek craft

Many of the selected works also engage directly with questions of sustainability through their choice of materials. Ifigeneia Pappa develops Litany from orange peel powder, agave fibers, coffee residues, and beeswax, transforming food waste into a ritual installation that activates through light and scent. Nikos Podias repurposes discarded fishing nets and used tea bags into a suspended woven work that recalls archaeological textiles and marine ecosystems, while Special Mention recipient Shekine Naidi’s felted wool installation, Meteorite, connects ancestral wool-processing traditions in Greece and Iran with reflections on conflict and environmental uncertainty.

Textile practices occupy a particularly strong position within the exhibition, revealing how weaving is evolving beyond functional production. Valia Kapeletzi manipulates cotton and linen through thread removal to create translucent surfaces that shift with changing light, Maria Stavropoulou employs layered handwoven structures to embed movement directly into cloth, and Maro Fasouli combines vernacular architecture with weaving to question longstanding divisions between domestic space, labor, and gender.

The finalists show how a new generation of Greek makers is reworking traditional techniques to address contemporary questions. Across ceramics, textiles, biomaterials, and sculpture, inherited knowledge becomes a starting point for new forms of material and cultural exploration.

the exhibition brings together 15 finalists working across sculpture, textiles, ceramics, and biomaterials