An enormous plane tree draws your attention in the gorgeous square of Tsepelovo. Dimitris, our “guide”, a true lover of Zagori’s magic, is trying to share every detail with us.
He tells us about the village shops’ wooden signs and mentions “Tripokaridos” (it means woodpecker in Greek), and Giannis Ifantis who now lives permanently in Tsepelovo with his partner Ioulia, in her grandmother’s house, and makes wooden sculptures. “His workshop is just around here” he told us, and we headed that way.
Τhe workshop with the best view
An old beautiful stone house with red windows, and on the side of the garden, a door that leads to the workshop. “It’s probably the workshop with the best view,” Ioulia, Giannis’ partner, tells us, as the view from the workbench is the panoramic view of the whole village, with the stone roofs, and the thick vegetation of Zagori. Most of the couple’s dogs don’t seem convinced of our good intentions and keep barking. Ioulia tries and manages to calm them. Milou, however, the “a-dog” as Giannis calls her, doesn’t think we’re worth any attention and keeps roaming around calmly. Only at the end of our visit did she deign us some attention.
At grandma’s house
The workshop’s workbench, and the rest of the space in general, is full of various tools Giannis uses to shape the wood. He started off as a musician, having played guitar for many years and he studied sound engineering. “In the winter od 2013 we decided with Ioulia to come live in the village. Her father’s, her grandmother’s actually, house needed some work done, which we took care of. We like life in Tsepelovo. It has what we were looking for, calm and time for yourself and your balance,” Giannis tells us and adds: “Before we came here I’d learned how to make wooden musical instruments. I used this knowledge and started making both functional objects and decorative sculptures.”
“Tripokaridos” has created the signs for many of the shops, while at the same time he makes chopping boards, key holders and many ornaments. “I usually use oak or walnut timber, depending on what I want to make. Some types of wood are better for smaller objects or for more detailed work.”
As we leave, Giannis is standing at his green gate, under a Cornelian cherry dogwood tree. “You know, the fruit of the Cornelia cherry dogwood are a favourite treat of bears. Last winter, a bear came here to eat the fruit. We were observing it locked inside the house. The dogs couldn’t stop barking, but the bear just ate the fruit calmly. This is our life in the village. This is Zagori. You should come visit again.”
“Tripokaridos”, Tsepelovo, Zagori, tel. 0030 6987396215
