Kasapis, our great friend and collaborator, brings his sweet dark melancholy to Astralón with an artwork exclusively made for us.

We first met one and a half year ago. A wonderful early spring evening in Sina street, when Michail Kasapis visited our space as the owner and main designer of Kiss The Frog Studio, a handcrafted jewelry label, which runs with the senior maker Myrto Gleni. We had a lovely first chat, we sipped a cup of coffee and ate strawberries.

For a long period we hadn’t met again, until our delightful collaboration started some months later, in November of 2019. And what a glorious time now, one year later, to bring on Michail Kasapis’ playful darkness, as we entered the second lockdown of Greece, in this continuous COVID-19 madness that haunts our lives.

Kasapis was born in Crete, spent most of his childhood in Nafplio, the elegant town of Peloponnese that is famous as the capital of the First Hellenic Republic in 1821, and he currently lives in Athens. He has illustrated more than 20 books, as a collaborator of many noteworthy publishing houses, while he has worked with advertising agencies as well. Last but not least, Kasapis was a layout artist in a company for animated film productions (projects of Sony Pictures and Paramount to name a few). 

We gathered, next to Astralón’s illustration, some of his touching and witty representative works, where darkness, tenderness and purity reigns. Perfect for fans of Jean-Marc Reiser, Oliver Jeffers, Tim Burton, Nick Cave, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll or other great storytellers that pop into our head.

You can check Kiss The Frog Studio’s lovingly handmade jewelry here.