They were completed by Ministry of Culture and Sports the acquisition procedures of the “Morphological Center of Athens” pottery workshop Elenis Vernadakis.

In January 2021, the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni asked the Central Council of Newer Monuments to examine whether the conditions for the designation as a monument of the building of Vernadaki’s workshop, the work of architect Takis Zenetou, are met, in the context of the policy for the rescue, maintenance and re-operation of spaces, inextricably linked to leading creators , whose imprint and work is a source of inspiration for contemporary artists. The KSNM gave a unanimous opinion on the declaration – pursuant to the provisions of Law 3028/2002 – of the building as a whole with the laboratory, its equipment, its auxiliary and storage areas. Subsequently, and with the consent of Vernadakis, the YPPOA proceeded with the acquisition process of the laboratory with the aim of organically connecting it with the Museum of Modern Greek Culture.

Lina Mendoni visited the Morphological Center of Athens in Kantza to inform Eleni Vernadakis about the completion of the process. As he said, “for 60 years, Vernadaki has been one of the most important figures in the art of ceramics in Greece, with great international acceptance. She is a creator who, with her works, as well as her collaboration with important artists, such as Yiannis Moralis, essentially renewed artistic ceramics. The YPPOA acquires the workshop of Eleni Vernadakis, which is housed in the building designed by Takis Zenetos, to function as an annex of the Museum of Modern Greek Culture. However, we do not want another Museum. Our goal is to keep the space alive and productive. Let the ovens be lit again and let ceramists come, who want to experiment and create. Our pursuit is, in the spirit of history, the route – and with the presence – of Eleni Vernadakis, the collaboration with schools, museums, artists, in order to reconnect the space with contemporary creation. The next step concerns the studies and the restoration works of the building-monument, so that it is ready to welcome and highlight new artists, as well as the drafting of operating regulations and securing the appropriate staff to manage the workshop”.
As Eleni Vernadaki said, “we have many museums, just as we also have many artists’ houses that function as museums. You don’t need one more. I wanted the Morphological Center of Athens to be a laboratory that would continue to be in production and open to visual artists who would like to express themselves with clay. That’s why I trusted Lina Mendoni’s proposal. There is a great turn of artists towards ceramic art, but there is no such, suitable space that meets this need. After six years of operation of the workshop, its five wheels and ovens are ready to receive artists who want to work with clay. As long as I have strength, I will contribute to its new operation, which fills me with optimism and hope.”

Lina Mendoni in the laboratory

Eleni Vernadaki studied ceramics at Hammersmith College of Art and Building in London (1957-1959). She returned to Greece at the end of 1959 and opened her workshop in the center of Athens (Solonos 20). In 1974 it was moved to Kantza, in the building specially designed by the architect Takis Zenetos. The building was created to become a ceramics workshop, including architectural details that serve its individual functions. Zeneto’s provision in the design for abundant natural light is typical, without the sun’s rays entering, in a way that dries the ceramics on the shelves.

The meeting and collaboration of the two creators was decisive for the artistic expression and creation of Vernadaki. As an architecture, it directly influenced her in her art, creating and creating innovative forms, opening new paths in ceramics. Until 2015, the Athens Morphological Center – adc (Athens Design Center), which she founded with her husband Nikos Papadakis, operated in the Zenet building, becoming a point of reference and a dynamic cell for the creation, presentation and promotion of projects, which proposed an inspired symbiosis of handmade art object with modern life.

Lina Mendoni in the laboratory