The Benaki Museum of Greek Culture presents the periodic exhibition entitled "The tools tell. The forgotten history of wood-carved textile tools".

The exhibition displays a large number of traditional wooden carved tools related to spinning, sewing, knitting, embroidery and various small-scale textile techniques and how they are used. The exhibition material includes a set of pastoral woodcarving tools and tools that have been produced in Greek prisons from the end of the 19th century to around 1950, while the presentation is complemented by corresponding objects from the wider European area.

Although the spinning tools (rockets, flywheels and spindles) are more studied and known to the general public as masterpieces of woodcarving, there is another class of related tools, known as stocking needles, which through their high aesthetics and the variety of woodcarving that they produced, they revealed their complex use, which was linked to the domestic production of handicrafts.

Each category of tools is exhibited according to its use and related technique, highlighting the wealth and ingenuity of the wood carvers, who, with their works, helped women to create from simple, necessary in their daily lives, handicrafts to masterpieces handicraft.

Finally, with the selection of some well-known craftsmen and artists who still practice these techniques today, the exhibition aspires to give a positive and optimistic message about the survival of the applied arts in the modern era.

The exhibition is accompanied by rich photographic material of the time and the book: TALES OF TOOLS. The Untold Narrative of Wooden Handiwork Implements from Greece, Flavia Nessi Giazitzoglou, Publishing house MELISSA, which will also serve as a catalog of the exhibition.

Curators: Flavia Nessi Giazitzoglou, Tina Vasilakopoulou
Architectural study: Eleonora Karavani
Graphic design: Dimitra Vasilakou, Aliki Kakoulidou
Scenography study: Kyriaki Karachalio

The Museum remains closed: June 5, 2023 (Holy Spirit) and August 15 (Fifteenth of August)

When:

May 17, 2023 - September 3, 2023

MONDAY 10:00 - 18:00
WEDNESDAY 10:00 - 18:00
THURSDAY 10:00 - 23:59
FRIDAY 10:00 - 18:00
SATURDAY 10:00 - 18:00
SUNDAY 10:00 - 16:00

Tickets:

€9, €7

It is possible to pre-purchase a ticket via tickets.benaki.org or from the Museum's ticket offices during the days and hours of the visit.