"I have been carving wood ever since I was a boy. What designs do I make? Whatever crosses my mind. At first I used to make ladles and canes, but then I was often asked to make more ashtrays and troughs. At night I think about what I am going to make in the morning. My wife wants me to stop, but I work because I want to be able to offer my grandchildren potato chips every day. I work on Sundays, even if I earn nothing. It helps the time pass; I don't even understand when the morning or the evening comes".

He is self-taught

Thanassis Gregoropoulos, a wood carver from Lagadia of Gortynia, had the habit of singing while he's working, but he stopped doing so since he had someone very close to him die. Before 1981 he used to be a builder and a farmer, nobody taught him the art of wood carving, he is self-taught. He is not educated, because of the German Occupation; he has only seen the school from far away. His biggest worry has to do with the desolation of his village.

"There is not a single factory around here for the young people to work in, they all leave and go to the cities in order to find a job and to have insurance. In Lagadia, there is a secondary school and a high school and both are at risk of closing. Children come here from Valtesiniko and from other villages, but things do not get better. I have ten grandchildren and most of them go to school. The streets are muddy and they have to carry a pair of socks with them to prevent their feet from getting soaking wet. Children can't grow up this way, and villages can't evolve either.

Hewing with the lath hammer

To make sturdy ladles Thanassis uses maple tree wood, which he loves because it can be worked easily. For  shepherd's crooks and canes he prefers yew. Soft woods he dabs with oil in order to become harder and those that are tough are put in water in order to become more flexible. 

When asked if young people are interested in his art, he said: "When I die there will no longer be crooks, canes and ladles here. There is no one else here to do this job". Thanassis doesn't like to be called Mr. Gregoropoulos by his customers. He prefers Thanassis or at least uncle Thanassis, if someone wants to show his respect.

He once felt uncomfortable when a popular magazine published an article about him, printed on the same page with some car ads. He was also sorry that, in the same article, there was a picture of Kolokotronis next to his own photo. "I didn't deserve to be next to this hero. People laugh at the things they write".
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS

The stone homes of Lagadia look like they are about to slide down the mountain.

The slopes around Lagadia look like paintings.

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