Evangelos & Dionisis Kalogiropoulos

Animi Wood Workshop

Toy maker

©Animi WoodWorkshop

The art of playing

Evangelos and Dionisis make unique wooden toys
Evangelos was formerly an illustrator
The brothers collaborated with the Museum of Modern Art

Evangelos and Dionisis Kalogiropoulos describe what they make as "Wooden interactive sustainable creations, made with love, that awaken the mood for play in children and grown-ups.” Inspired by their homeland, the brothers create original wooden children’s toys and decorative objects using symbols, colours and shapes that are characteristic of the Greek tradition and iconography. The brothers pursued different career paths before reuniting to work on their first passion. It was their father, an amateur carpenter, who passed on his love for wood. As children, they used to play with wood and dream of making things out of it: “Wood is a living material and as long as you offer it your time and skill, it gives you back unique results."

Interview

©Animi WoodWorkshop

©Animi WoodWorkshop

What led you to return to this craft?: Evangelos: Each of us decided to start this craft for our own reasons, we were fortunate that our timing matched. For me, after working as an illustrator and graphic designer, I felt it was time to take the next step: starting to turn my designs into real, useful objects.
What was the first object made at the Animi Wood Workshop?: It was the decorative stacking puzzle of the Cretan figure, the first in a series of puzzles inspired by Greek history. The series evolved into children's toys with other sizes and appropriate specifications. Our goal is to enrich the series with new designs and figures from around the world.
Is the links to your region significant in your craft?: The place where we live, work and create, Crete, has a very long tradition and history in the arts since ancient times. Inspired by that – and by Greek culture in general – our work has a strong Greek element and design line.
What is Animi’s signature toy?: We are very good at making puzzles and especially stacking puzzles – even with quite complex pieces – paying attention to the part of their joints. It is very common not to notice at first glance that one of our creations is a puzzle and to see it as a single object.

Evangelos & Dionisis Kalogiropoulos are rising stars: they began their career in 2017