Transcript
A (0:05)
I'm Laura Vinroot Poole, and this is what we wore. Eliana Macri is a jewelry designer whose unique pieces blend her rich Athenian heritage, the energy of stones, symbolism and personal instinct. She transformed the jewelry industry with pieces like her signature threadband and her use of symbols like evil eyes and serpents. Ileana, tell the listeners where you're from. Were you born in Athens?
B (0:32)
I was born in the north of Greece in a city called Salonika, which is a big port in the north of Greece. A beautiful city. My parents lived there at the time. My father was a lawyer, but we moved very early on. I moved from Salonica at the age of 1 1/2 because my father got involved in politics. So we moved to Athens, where I grew up and where I lived for the rest of my life, with some small intervals, living in Paris, London and New York.
A (1:09)
And tell me about growing up in Athens. What was it like at the time, Lisa?
B (1:14)
And Athens was and still is a place where history and modern life coexist. You know, it is a city that is safe. It's a safe city. I mean, you know, you really walk. I live all the way downtown Athens. My building is totally empty except for my apartment on the top floor. Why is that? Because it's a very old building, and the people that have bought it are not willing to start renovation work now. Only the top floor was renovated where I moved in, and the rest, they have left the way it is. So I live in that part of the city with a lot of homeless people, a lot of drug addicts around. But it is so lively and so much in Athens, you have the everyday visual language, is a lot of symbolism out of mythology, architecture, you know, all of these different languages combined. The way, you know, I would describe Athens, it is not a simple city. It has a lot of different things. And now especially that you have a lot of also immigrants moving into the city. You have all this combination of multiracial,
A (2:49)
multicultural, which it has been since the beginning of time. Right. I mean, a port is.
B (2:55)
It has been since the beginning of time. Yes, exactly. Yes.
A (2:58)
So this mishmash of cultures and importing
B (3:00)
and exporting, but this cultural layering, which also deeply affected my aesthetic, is there especially in the area where I live now, because there are also areas that were built later, are more modern. But at the time when I was growing up, all of Athens was like the area where I live today. And I think I kind of miss it.