A Domestic Mythology: Exploring Laspi
by Anoe Melliou
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Inside a disciplined and discreetly distorted frame, the myth of a house begins. It is hard to define its origin and end. Weighty walls form the shell, and expansive openings let the in-between settle in, drawing the atmosphere of the outside in. A monumental rhythm of concrete slabs defines its layout, yet its rigor constantly breaks: asymmetries expand, angles twist, and each room opens toward the others.
The polygonal pool is a few steps away from the kitchen across the living room, which expands towards a secluded patio, exposed to the sky. Each bedroom rises above, asserting its position across the sea, across the sunrise. A few minutes’ walk leads to a ledge set between rocks at the edge of the salty water. From there, the house appears at its most assured expression—calm, and complete. The architecture proposes an impression of naivety, and an earnest refusal to explain its intentions. Nothing is forced into symmetry; irregularities feel chosen rather than accidental. The design does not seek conclusions; without the urgency of a definition, it expresses its own form of clarity.
Every design, at any scale—from the shape of the pool to the contour of a plate, carries the imprint of craft. Each cup or vessel possesses an incomparable form and a bold layer of color. A sketch of a man and his dog on a glossy tile lingers at the patio, a crocodile is rendered across a puzzle of ceramic coasters, a beak sculpted from clay guards the entrance. These gestures accumulate into a distinct domestic mythology.
The architecture affirms the value of an ongoing, permissive condition, where deviation feels natural. Habitual patterns of seeing and moving are gently interrupted, reinterpreted. Time feels elastic. Here, the unusual is simply present. The house opens like a collection of meanings that insist on being ambiguous. It does not close itself around you. In its irregularities, it performs its own eccentric truth: it allows meaning to remain plural, flexible, subjective.
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Laspi (Peloponnese, Greece) was founded by Alexandros Ntouras, a multidisciplinary artist, who designed the ensemble in collaboration with Askiseis Edafous Architects. The house is filled with ceramic objects of various scales, all designed and handcrafted in his Athens-based workshop, Korkodilos.
Architectural Design: Askiseis Edafous
Interior Design: Alexandros Ntouras
Photography by: Alexandra Papoutsi, Chris Abatzis
