ELIAS MARCOU, of Reuters, reports on the work of potter Dimitris Kouvdis…
Lesbos, Greece
Reuters
In his seaside workshop on the Greek island of Lesbos, Dimitris Kouvdis uses ancient techniques to create pottery pieces that have recently been honoured with inclusion in UNESCO’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Dimitris Kouvdis, 70, works in his pottery workshop using traditional methods in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, on 5th September, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Elias Marcou.
Kouvdis, 70, and his family have kept an old technique alive near the once humming pottery hub of Mandamados, just as the slow and careful methods of the past have been largely eclipsed by factory machines.
Their pottery is among the last in the Mediterranean to be produced from clay in local soil, using a traditional kiln with olive pits as fuel, with the pieces painted with natural lime.
A view of Kouvdis family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, on 23rd September, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Elias Marcou.
“It’s an honour for me,” Kouvdis said with regard to the UNESCO recognition of his work.
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He said a mechanised press can work at 10 times the speed of an individual potter. “There’s no continuity. There’s no space for [our] method to continue.”
Paraskevi Kouvdi works in the family’s pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, on 18th July, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Elias Marcou.
Still, he continues to produce individual pots on an outcrop of land overlooking the Aegean Sea.
“Above all, it’s a passion – trying to create something that fulfils you,” he said.
