Being a collector requires true passion, deep knowledge for the item at hand, endless travels with no boundaries and an exquisite eye for the truly magnificent. Being a design piece collector requires that all these senses be on full alert and seriously enlightened. For those new bloods out there that want to be inspired and are still unsure of what this entails, we have a true master for you, encompassing all that it takes and much much more.

Alketas Pazis is a true collector of all things design, ranging from the styles of the 1900‘s – 1950’s. His mission and never ending love affair is locating, rescuing and reclaiming industrial objects. One could actually say that his vast and very exclusive collection of vintage furniture pieces in Greece and his true love for the Avant-Garde have taken over his personal lifestyle. Having contributed to over 950 commercials and film productions, Pazis is very particular as to where his pieces go and how they are displayed. The collection may be vast but every piece has a personal sentimental meaning and that is why it was not until recently that the decision was made to also operate as a trading house for vintage pieces. It was important that he begin redeveloping the pieces and give other Avant-Garde lovers the pleasure of owning such eclectic pieces.

All the items are a form of inspiration derived from public spaces of the past such as hospitals, schools, gymnasiums, factories etc. However what makes his selections so admirable and sought after, is his eclecticism, in selecting items from the modern movement that are not in fact recognisable from that era. And this includes industrially oriented objects. 

As designers, we get our inspiration from that which has been. A design has deeper meaning when it is influenced from the past and reinterpreted into the future. When you are a spectator in the Temporary Showroom of Alketas Pazis' in Athens, Greece, you instantly understand that these valuables are not your cookie cutter Avant-Garde handbook replicas. Hence it is no wonder that he leaves and breathes the modernity of the 1900’s.

Visiting his personal residence adjoined to his Temporary Showroom was a journey into his world through his eyes. This means a world of warm coffee served in tin white post war mugs and assorted delectable sweets offered in a U shape tin hospital syringe/urinal container. All around us items flourish such as an old fashioned gymnasium leather beam, a metal locker with mesh wire frame doors, a magnificent apothecary and ‘on gard’ fencing swords and masks, because after all in the 40’s, a true gentlemen fought in true style.

Once inside his much-adored house, you instantly get the feeling that nothing around you is the same. It can only be described as though you have traveled through time, selected the design eclectics and then transported yourself back to the present where you have combined the delectable with the modern. Alketas Pazis marries his residence’s original mosaic flooring and French glazed double doors with an atmospheric grey wall finishing thus achieving a perfect balance with which to control the importance of every piece. Every item has no reference to anything else yet, as is the case, with such vintage pieces, the interior as a whole forms a perfect consistency of inconsistency. Beautiful family heirlooms are present throughout the interiors consisting of carved cabinetry and Persian rugs. Wall extended lights have been modified and are fixed on the ceiling and patented leather sofas are placed just so for absolute comfort.

Looking at this residence/showroom you instantly know that this is a house of true passion; a passion for a specific time and an envied lifestyle. When your interiors consist of a ‘one of a kind’ theory you know that the owner of this house is exactly that; a ‘one of a kind’ connoisseur of the Avant-Garde, to be exact.

A View Inside The Temporary Showroom
Athens, Greece