'Smoke.A.Bowl', a stoneware ashtray in the shape of an iconic skate bowl

Greece is for Lovers is the brainchild of Thanos Karampatsos and Christina Kotsilelou, as lovingly conceived at the foot of the Acropolis hill in 2006. Sharing similar aesthetic influences, the creative minds behind it introduced a brand new sense of ‘Greekness’ to contemporary product design, by mixing up a concoction of their country’s spiciest ingredients: humour, irony, nonchalance and extravagance. Inspired by the stereotypical notion of what is widely held to be Greek, their designs comment on habitual activities and behavioural patterns of both the past and the present; they narrate an alternative home country, consisting of part memory, part fantasy and part wish. Unwilling to compromise, the GIFL trademark aesthetic sits comfortably in the controversial area between luxe and kitsch. By exploring areas widely considered as an anathema, or plain shameful, they casually retrieve value and inspiration. Greece is for Lovers’ products, whether one-offs or limited editions, are handmade with care by local craftsmen and are considered a synonym for contemporary Greek design.