We met creative globetrotter Andria Mitsakos at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, where she lives when she is not spending her summers on the Cycladic island of Paros. Her rooms are filled with art and curiosities, and overflow with stories from all over the world. She founded PR consultancy AMPR, where Andria has built a global reputation for creating benchmark hospitality brands, emphasising originality and authenticity in every project. We visited her concept store at the COSME Hotel in Paros and had a chat.
IRMA: You are a collector of art and vintage jewellery and accessories. How did this passion start and how does it influence your current collection?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: I grew up in a household of strong women who were all collectors.
My archive of vintage fashion is overflowing. Favourite pieces hang on the doors of my wardrobe in Athens and are a constant source of inspiration. I have a long-standing obsession with vintage lingerie and I’ve been wearing nightgowns from the 1920s to the 1980s as dresses for over 25 years. They work in warm climates with some contemporary jewellery or a bag, or in cold climates with leather, velvet or vintage fur. I just cannot get enough of them and have worn them until they are literally threadbare and falling apart. I recommend investing in good vintage pieces from designers like Missoni, YSL and there are plenty of no-name/no-label pieces that I covet as well – you will never be dressed like anyone else. Each piece is a conversation starter.
My Almas jewellery collection is a tribute to my great-great-grandmother and her journey across the Atlantic to America, carrying her family’s legacy along with the jewellery her late father had handcrafted and braided into her hair for safekeeping. It was my first collection of jewellery, a craft I inherited from my martyred great-great-grandfather, one of Armenia’s greatest jewellers, whose story we learned 100 years after his death.
I am always inspired by those who have gone before us, it gives life – and objects – a real soul.
IRMA: You started with interior design and then developed your fashion line, how does one influence the other and do you get inspiration from one for the other?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: My mother, Stella, is an interior designer and at 83 she still has clients, some of whom she’s had for over 30 years. She always told me to respect objects and their provenance, and I think all design is intertwined. If you have an eye, you have an eye. And trust me: I respect that gift. I cannot be a foundryman, a ceramist, a textile weaver, a wood carver, a furniture maker, a ready-to-wear designer, an architect, a jeweller, but I have a great relationship with my artisans and my workshop and it all works!
IRMA: Cosme Hotel is the home of your store in Paros, tell me about this collaboration.
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: We have two stores in Paros, Cosme, a Luxury Collection hotel, which is the flagship, and then an annex in its sister hotel, Parilio, a member of Design Hotels. Both stores are located in the lobbies of the hotels and are completely open, making it an effortless shopping experience. Cosme is home to our RTW collections (which we soft-launched with a few styles this summer), combined with items from all our collections, including ceramics, brass objects and bags, as well as my jewellery line and other designers I have exclusivity with on Paros. I also have unique vintage and antique jewellery, designer eyewear and kimonos. The hotels are owned by the Empiria Group, one of Greece’s leading hospitality companies. The owners are dear friends of mine and it has been such an organic growth for the brand to work with them. Retail in hotels has changed over the years and it’s not the “gift shop” we used to know. It’s also not like the direction some hotels have gone, with big designers taking up space in their hotels and beach clubs. The Anthologist is somewhere else. I like to think of the treasure-filled corner in the hotel lobby – inspired by the kiosks of romantic grand hotels – as a magical wardrobe, a cabinet of curiosities and an extension of my own private collection.
IRMA: Where do you spend your summer and how does this place inspire your work?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: I travel a lot and today I’m writing to you from the north coast of Egypt, which is a very inspiring country for me. Any country with an ancient civilisation is, really. I will then be spending a few weeks at Panito Cottage, my home in Paros. Travel always defines my work and work defines my travel, so the destinations I visit are always influencing me.
IRMA: Your favourite place in Athens in autumn and why?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: My showroom, which I opened last year. The morning light is so soft and beautiful in autumn. The space is a kind of shopable museum and the first of its kind in the city. We are open to the public by appointment only, so we can offer a more personalised shopping experience. I meet so many collectors, hoteliers, architects and designers of all media in this forum and it’s just such a lovely interaction with like-minded people. When I want to get outdoors, I always go hiking on Philopappos Hill, or the Hill of the Muses. I love nature and I can tell the change of seasons by the wildflowers that grow along my path. The whole area is like living in an ancient world.
IRMA: How do you develop your colour palette each season?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: First of all, I love colour, so it’s always present in my collections, whether it’s blown glass, RTW or accessories. My travels play a part and this year I spent a lot of time in the Caribbean on a design project for a hotel in St Lucia, which is so vibrant. My mother always taught me to look at nature and find your palette – whether it’s the colour gradient of a flower petal or the wing of a bird, everything is perfect.
IRMA: You have a range of different products, is there a guideline you follow?
‘ANDRIA MITSAKOS: I am usually inspired by a particular manufacturing process or an actual object and then it builds from there. I’m fascinated by how objects – any objects – are made, so sometimes it’s the actual process that defines the final product. I might have an idea for something, and then when I try to make it, my artisan partner will show me how it could be done more efficiently, and that helps the final design come to fruition. I rely a lot on my artisan partners. I’m not an engineer, so while I have an eye for what I want, they’re the only ones who can actually tell me if it’s going to work or not.
When it comes to guidelines, the only guideline I follow is that what we create follows the pillar of cultural preservation, so that the products we make are directly related to the origin of manufacturing and the continuation of that craft.
IRMA: What do you think is the most crafty and creative area in Athens?
ANDRIA MITSAKOS: The centre of Athens is the heartbeat of the city for me, and in that sense it is still very old world. It constantly inspires me.