Nikos Dallas

A human study through tailoring

• Nikos is inspired by his clients and by different fabrics
• What he loves most about tailoring is communicating with each client
• The first object he made was a zipped wallet when he was a young child

Nikos Dallas learned the craft of tailoring from his father, who had a tailor's workshop. This is where he was first inspired and acquired his basic knowledge, later enriched by other distinctive professionals he worked with. Having studied fashion design at AKTO Art & Design in Athens, and pattern at M.Muller & Sohn, Nikos is however self-taught at several CAD-CAM pattern design programmes. As a master tailor, he loves to study and research old and modern patterns, and tailoring methods. Nikos opened Sartoria Nikos Dallas in 2014 in the centre of Thessaloniki. For him, tailoring is unique because it combines many diverse skills: technical, artistic and social.

Interview

©Arte di Tre

©Arte di Tre

Do you remember the first time you thought of taking up this craft?

Like most tailors, my father did not want me to follow this path, he wanted me to study something else. But after my unsuccessful attempt to study mathematics, I was brought face to face with my deep desire that had formed since childhood to work in the clothing industry. That is what made me decide to study fashion.

How would you describe what you do?

It is an anthropocentric craft in which the old and the new are equally important. The incomparable quality of handmade tailoring on the one hand, and the utmost precision of the digital pattern on the other is the simplest example.

Can you share a memorable moment in your professional life?

A special moment in my professional life is my work for the Greek Paralympic swimmer Antonis Tsapatakis. Designing and making a series of suits for a disabled person was an experience that made me re-study anatomy, read specialist pattern books, and ultimately redefine my love for tailoring along with my love for humans.

Do you train a new generation of tailors?

Yes, because this is the only way for my craft to keep existing. There are very few of us who know and practise the art of tailoring, which is not taught anywhere, in any school, private or public, in Greece.

Nikos Dallas is a master artisan: he began his career in 1989 and he started teaching in 2010

Works

©Arte di Tre

©Arte di Tre

©Arte di Tre

©Arte di Tre

Where

Experiences

Five-day workshop to learn bespoke tailoring in Thessaloniki

15 Hours

900 EUR per person

A tour of a traditional tailor's workshop in Thessaloniki

2 Hours

60 EUR per person