The House

Nine hands, three floors.

Four of them have been here since the first season.

The workshop

Who does what.

Athina and Niccolò still personally take the first measure of every bespoke commission.

01

Athina Vlachou

Founder — Head of Design

Cuts every bridal pattern by hand. Trained at Central Saint Martins, then six seasons under Antonio Berardi in London.

02

Niccolò Castellani

Founder — Head of Tailoring

Third-generation Florentine tailor. Cuts all suiting in-house on a pattern drafted to the body rather than a block.

03

Eleftheria Mavroidi

Lead Embroiderer

Twenty-two years at the National Opera before joining in the first month. Hand-beads every Persephone gown.

04

Anastasia Drosou

Head Seamstress

Hand-rolls every silk hem in the workshop. Joined in 2017 and has finished most of what has left the building since.

The other five

The bench, and the apprentice.

Beyond the four named above the workshop runs with a finishing bench of four and one apprentice. The bench does the work that has no byline — basting, pressing, the second row of beading, the twelfth pinning of a hem.

The apprenticeship is two years on the cutting room floor, one person at a time. It is the only way this house knows how to pass on a draft.

Chalked pattern pieces on the oak cutting table
Begin

Both founders, three times each.

Every garment passes through Athina’s and Niccolò’s hands at least three times before delivery. That is what the capped intake buys.