I’d like to know who hasn’t been nostalgic for those years when we kids ran carefree and barefoot in the village neighborhoods. Where the smells of the goodies that grandma used to make pierced your nose. Bread rolls with anari, doughnuts, tsipopita, mahalepi and so much more.

I still remember grandfather drinking his coffee and reading his newspaper, on that small, so warm veranda, with the two-tone traditional blue chairs and the small round table. I loved to go and sit next to him, in that corner of the yard and ask him to tell me stories, from that classic, traditional marble that decorated the floor of that unforgettable veranda. 

I spent endless hours looking at the designs that decorated each marble. The colors were so strange and beautiful as if each one had a different story behind it. My grandfather used to say that the technique for traditional tile has its roots back in the 16th century in Venice. Craftsmen with years of experience had then discovered a unique way of reusing the remains of the Venetian marbles.

So, with strange marble chips, they started building terraces around their houses. The way they placed them and each one took a different shape, made them develop this technique. The techniques of these first terrazzo floors, as Grandpa used to call them, evolved from grinding with a hand stone to the development of a small handled, weighted grinding stone called a Galero. My grandfather used to say that the traditional tile was the strongest and most indestructible mosaic that existed, because of the broken pieces of marble that were added to its mixture. So, the more you walked on it, the better, the prettier, and the shinier it got over time.

How much I truly admired the fact that something so old and traditional remained indestructible as the years passed over it. It was something unreal! I still have the look of admiration on my face when for the first time Grandpa Varnavas told me the way of exactly how they made the traditional tile.

Each traditional marble is a small work of art, he told me, since each one is made by hand by experienced artisans of this kind. There is a unique design womb, like that in which the fetus grows in its mother’s womb. This is how my grandfather used to describe this technique to me, so unique! So, in this matrix, the craftsman puts the colors one by one in his hand. Then a soft powder is passed over it, which helps with absorbency. Then we take out the matrix and cover it with cement and sand. Then we place the traditional marble in the compression machine at 160 Bar to homogenize the mixture. After it is finished, we place the traditional marble in a ventilated indoor space for 4-5 days to dry on its own. The next stage is to go to the sander to be sanded, waterproofed, and polished. Ready, now you just place it and it makes every interior or exterior space unique and special.

My child, every place has its plans according to the tradition and culture of each place. “Tradition is not keeping the ashes, but carrying the flame“

Nowadays, the world of decoration tends more and more to return to what is natural and authentic, combining the past with the future. It also pays special attention to art from other cultures, creating points of contact and offering new innovative solutions. The interior decoration of a house consists of a mix of modern and traditional elements and thus uniquely, the house “tells both its own story” and that of the owner.

Traditional marble has increased in popularity in recent years because when done right, using good materials, it can make an impressive addition to any space.

“I want to go back to the old days, I want my old neighborhood, NOW!”

Elena Kyriacou

Marketing Executive