The Poet Who Made Sandals
Melissinos Art began in Athens in 1920 with sandal maker Georgios Melissinos and his twin brother Michael, a poet. The pairing of craft and verse became the workshop's lasting identity rather than a later marketing invention.
Georgios's son Stavros took over in the mid-1950s. He wrote poetry as well as making ancient Greek-inspired leather sandals, earning the name The Poet Sandal Maker of Athens. Sophia Loren, Jackie Onassis and the Beatles were among the clients who made the small family workshop known far beyond Greece; John Lennon later returned for more pairs.
Pantelis Melissinos, the third generation, took over in 2004 and continues as sandal maker, poet and artist. The current atelier near the Acropolis Museum fits and handcrafts its vegetable-tanned leather sandals for individual customers rather than selling them through a factory line or online catalogue.
Many famous craft houses eventually trade the workshop for a brand. Melissinos has kept both halves of the family identity alive — the poetry and the sandals, neither one subordinate to the other, still made in Athens by the family that joined them.
Article references
The houses in this story
- Melissinos Art Normanou 16, Athens
The Poet Sandal Maker — third-generation artisan making leather sandals for Jackie O, John Lennon, and Sophia Loren. Still hand-making them today. store page → · open in the atlas →