Maria Kontaxopoulou – How sailors’ knots made in Therma found their way to the stage of the London National Theatre

Maria is throwing the dices …. and a big smile comes up on her face. She caresses her mother’s hand, who is sitting opposite her at the table. „This is it, Mum“, Maria says to her mother Evdokia, „this round goes on me» She closes the Tavli and lights up a cigarette. She loves these moments: sitting in the yard of the „Plumeria“-Hotel in Therma, a light breeze in the air and she can hear the distant humming of a busy summer evening in the village. This is all that she needs to calm down, to let go the hustle of a busy working day. This is her home, this is her base, this is exactly where her roots are.
Maria loves this place: the family house, which has become a hotel, the colourful yard with its cosy corners where you can sit quietly and chat. She knows every corner, there is not one piece of wood in the house and in the yard that she had not touched or cleaned over the last decades. Maria has lived all the changes that have happened in this place. It belonged to her father, Stamatis Kontaxpoulos, a well-known seafarer, who built his family life here in Therma. It is here that Maria was born and raised together with her two sisters.

Stamatis married Evdokia who came from Fourni and somehow their family life happened around sailing boats, fishing and sewing machines.
In 1967, a few years after getting married, Stamatis took his wife and his first-born daughter, Maria, to Leros where they lived for several years. On Leros, Stamatis built his own boat to take the tourists to different places. It was a good life; Maria grew up while Evdokia kept herself busy with the house, her child and sewing so that she could contribute to the family income.

In 1975 the family returned to Ikaria and Stamatis signed on to work on large ships. For nearly a decade he travelled the 7 seas, leaving his wife and his growing family, three daughters by then, behind in Agios Kirikos.
It was tough for the women, but they managed. Evdokia was the boss at home; she had her daughters and the many tasks well under control. And there were many things to do.
Same as she did in Leros, Evdokia continued her sewing business and as she was very talented, she became a very busy seamstress.

Some years later, Stamatis moved his family to his grandfathers’ home in Therma, where the family settled for good. As the house was bigger, and the yard had become the first “open-air” cinema in Therma which attracted many people, Evdokia had a lot of things to look after.

Because of this, Evdokia didn’t have much time to spare with her daughters. But somehow, Maria found her way to be close to her mum by simply following her mother’s activities. This way Maria became interested in sewing since her early childhood.

Watching her mum not only handling needle and thread all the time, but also working the complicated sewing machine, became the best training Maria could wish for. Over the years she got to know to all the small tricks which make the difference when sewing, but still it wasn’t on her list to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Instead, Maria got actively involved in the various other family businesses and jobs in Agios Kirikos. Among others, Evdokia had opened a fishshop in the platia of Agios Kirikos (today you find the “Urban Bar” there) and Maria worked there for many years.

But besides work, already at a very young age, Maria built her own family life. She got married and became a mother at the age of 17 and like her mother, it was a challenge to combine the responsibility for a family with work. And new paths in life opened up. When her son grew up, Maria left Ikaria to live with her family in Athens, where her son was able to attend a sports school. A few years later, she came back to the island and started working for her husband’s company and later at a local transport company; she got divorced. During these turbulent years, it was good that she was able to live close to her family again. In difficult times that was reassuring.

At some point, she met Christos, who worked as a lorry driver for the same Ikarian transport company as she did. Since then, Christos is a constant in her life – and with him new chapters opened.

In 2005 both decided to move to Athens again, where they wanted to open a professional shoe repair shop – a profession Christos had learned from scratch and was keen to take up again.

It was only then that Maria joined in with her sewing.

Under the guidance of Christos she learned to repair all kind of materials – from leather to heavy fabrics and thick plastic. Within a short time, she was able to work the complicated sewing machines that go along with these materials.

Maria loved this work. Sewing and new materials – somehow this became a ‘door opener’ for the rebirth of her own creativity. Despite all the different activities and jobs in her life, Maria stayed tuned to sewing and matching different materials and colours. And now she was near to her real „creative break-through“.

It had been a very simple ‘project’, but – looking back – it became a real game changer for Maria. It was: a dog leash! Yes: a leash. New developments in life have sometimes a very unspectacular starting point. And in Maria’s case the story goes like that: She was looking for a new leash for her dog, but as she was looking for a good quality one, she could only find it at a very high price. With that in mind, Maria decided to make one by herself, but where to start? As the daughter of a seafarer, she got the idea to work with sailors’ knots. She asked Stamatis for help and after a few weeks she ended up experimenting with this technique, finding out about its the many possibilities to use them in an artistic way. So, Maria started playing with her new findings and a new chapter of creativity began.
Of course, Maria created the most beautiful leash for her dog, but the sailors’ knots also became the basis for a very special kind of jewellery. Maria combined the knots with pearls, cords, silver and golden threats …. and little by little, she developed her unique and very individual style, which becomes immediately recognizable.

Maria loved and still loves her « new playground ». It is her way into a different world – a world where she can forget about the everyday problems, such as paying bills, handling difficult customers, being on time with the orders given. While others are watching television to calm down, Maria prefers to experiment with pearls and threads and sailors’ knots.

Back there in Athens, Maria did not have a special showroom. She just displayed her art pieces on a small table in front of the shoe-repair-shop « Mr. Minute » and at a time when Instagram was not a “must have” to promote yourself, the jewellery was waiting to be discovered.
And indeed – the miracle happened! One fine day the Head of Department for Costumes of the „London National Theatre“passed by and got interested in Maria’s artwork.

The lady was searching for unique necklaces for a very special theatre play in London – a difficult task, but her search ended in a side street in Athens, here at Christos’s shoe-repair-shop.
She asked Maria if she was willing to send her some samples – and shortly after their first meeting, Maria carefully wrapped some earrings, necklaces and rings and sent them to London. And she got the job! The job was to create and make jewellery for more than 20 artists who were going to perform in a theatre play just 3 months later!

What followed was one of the most difficult projects Maria ever worked on in her life. She had to design and make all the requested necklaces within a very short timescale and had to ship them to London in time. For sure, this had nothing to do with „Ikarian timing and planning “! But it was well worth the effort! The jewellery became a high attraction within the theatre play and the positive feedback to Maria was enormous and very encouraging.
Unfortunately, the cooperation with the London National Theatre was not continued, but Maria doesn’t mind. She enjoyed the experience, and it was a real boost to her artistic development – but in general she doesn’t like to be creative under stressful circumstances. For Maria her jewellery-items are her “babies”, which she can nourish when she has the time and the right energy. She doesn’t consider them as her “new business idea” to make money with. So even after the success story in London, Maria continued to display her necklaces, rings and earrings on the little table in front of “Mr Minute’s” shoe-repair shop.

The story changed when Maria and Christos decided to leave Athens for good and to return to Ikaria to continue their life and work there. They found a little shop in the centre of Agios Kirikos (next to the bar “Ambariza”), where they are working side by side, repairing shoes, sails, leather jackets, furniture, suitcases and so much more and where Maria started also her own creations, such as bags, cushions and curtains.

But her real paradise has become the little showroom, that she created in the yard of their family house in Therma, that has now become the hotel “Plumeria”. Here she can finally showcase the variety of her creativity: Necklaces, rings, earrings and wristbands. Not all are based on sailors’ knots … in the meantime Maria has developed a very broad and unique style, which is impressive but still playful, where she combines different materials, colours and shapes. Here her creations are nicely arranged on shelves and in glass vitrines.

But Maria is not only happy to present her “babies”. She also loves to enter into discussion with the people who find their way to this little shop. In contrast to her business in Agios, where she accepts commissioned work and is always a little pressed for time, she can now take her time to explain to her customers the « making-of » her art, where she finds her ideas and how she overcomes problems in the production process.

With this broad creativity in her hands, you will rarely find Maria without a needle and threat … and if so, it is because she enjoys the quiet moments of her morning coffee with Christos in Agios Kirikos, before they start their daily work, or in moments like tonight: playing Tavli with her mother and then passing by the platia at Therma to enjoy a chat with family and friends.

This is what Maria sees as a good life: having her roots here in Therma, surrounded by family and friends, and having the chance to explore her creativity. It seems simple, but for Maria it was a long way to go.

(@Birgit_Urban)