Greek potter keeps ancient ways alive, wins UNESCO recognition

A view of Kouvdis family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, September 23, 2024. Elias Marcou

LESBOS, Greece - 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.

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.

"It's an honour for me," Kouvdis said with regard to the UNESCO recognition of his work.

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."

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. (This story has been corrected to fix the first name of the potter to Dimitris, not Nikos, in paragraph 1)

(Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Edward McAllister and Mark Heinrich)