Stoned

A collection of hand painted stones harvested from various beaches all over Greece brings the ocean into your home

Discovery

Lunging down Antiparos High Street on a warm night in late August, my mind is definitely fixated on how soon I could find an establishment offering beverages containing large quantities of ice and alcohol. The blinding white of the street is punctuated by grey flagstones and the occasional colourful flourish of a potted or planted bougainvillea which manages to survive the arid conditions. Cafes, informal restaurants, untidily crammed tourist shops abound but of course there are the occasional gems to be discovered.

Elena Xanthopoulos’ shop More Than This is such a revelation. Small but neatly designed, it offers smooth marble decorative objects, jewellery and a collection of hand painted stones. The creator of the eponymous company who paints these is Elena’s sister Louisa Xanthopoulou who was born and raised in Athens and studied graphics at the Vakalo School of art and design.

Elena Xanthopoulos’ shop More Than This is such a revelation. Small but neatly designed, it offers smooth marble decorative objects, jewellery and a collection of hand painted stones. The creator of the eponymous company who paints these is Elena’s sister Louisa Xanthopoulou

Memory

Combining the creative orientation which she followed in her art school projects with the inclination to work with her hands, she began experimenting with various geometric shapes and organic motifs. Having explored various textures, she settled on the smooth surface of stones where the design blended harmoniously with a natural object. The stones range from 9 to 16 cm in width and are painted in black, grey and white.

Louisa’s initial inspiration is nature, the whirling spirals of a snail’s shell, a spider’s web or the veins on leaves. She also draws on the creations of artist Yoran Morvant who does similar work. The drawings are intricate and enhance and animate the raw material. Each line is carefully drafted by hand, forming sequences of layered patterns directed by the stone’s shape. The name of the collection refers to the dizzying visual effects the stones radiate.

Louisa’s initial inspiration is nature, the whirling spirals of a snail’s shell, a spider’s web or the veins on leaves. She also draws on the creations of artist Yoran Morvant who does similar work. The drawings are intricate and enhance and animate the raw material

Narration

The stones are harvested from various beaches all over Greece mostly from the Greek islands of Paros and Antiparos but also from the Corinthian Gulf and even Paleo Faliro in Athens. Louisa collects them when the beaches are quiet so she can search peacefully for a combination of three elements, an oval shape, an interesting colour and a smooth surface. They are then smoothed down and painted with indelible ink sealed with an adhesive. These natural objects can be placed as decorations or used as bookends, paper weights or door stops. Cradling one in the palm of my left hand as I write this, I sense the coolness, the smoothness and the satisfying weight, somehow it has a calming effect on me! Thinking of its original nesting place brings thoughts of stones being crunched together with the waves pounding over them and brings the ocean into my home.