Dispatch from Sifnos, Greece
Everything you need to know about the Sifnos pottery circuit; ceramic chimneys and folk museums; an epic film series; and a 6th-generation captain’s house
At first glance, it might be difficult to discern the differences between the many beautiful Cyclades islands in the Aegean. Whitewashed churches against a sparkling turquoise sea; charming ancient seaside villages where bougainvillea knows no bounds; aromatic wild scrub with rosemary and thyme; capers growing from every crack; endless sunshine. Sifnos has all of the above, but like anywhere with thousands of years of history, scratching the surface reveals a deeper story. In Sifnos, that story is centered around a longstanding tradition of pottery—dating back to Cycladian times and built on generations of collective knowledge and heritage skill—is still visible if you know where to look.

A kind of age-old Sifnian folklore suggests that these workshops of old— tsikalaria —were sneakily tucked into hidden coves and hard-to-reach places to protect the ceramics from both pirates and the Meltemi (I’ve experienced the latter and can easily imagine a fierce gust of wind whipping through an open-air shelf and knocking everything flat). Once you’re attuned, you’ll notice all manner of decorative ceramic details across the island, including terracotta chimney toppers (flaroi)— a signature flourish of Sifnian vernacular architecture. In Hand contributor and craft-scouting extraordinaire Annie Waterman of AOW Handmade just returned with a report on her favorite pottery workshop (where these embellishments are still made by hand, according to tradition), plus a distilled guide for exploring this special island.
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