Kafeneon Sign Painting

Out of the blue, I had a call from Takis of Synandisi kafeneon in Koroni. He was refurbishing the place after about thirty years and wanted me to re-paint his old menu boards! Said boards were duly dropped off at the studio and I began the simple task of changing the colour of the background from the old dark green to a lovely new grey/putty colour… the lettering was supposed to remain as it was.

These things are never simple though are they? After several hours of painting around the existing lettering, it became clear that with the addition of the new, paler background, the original lettering wasn’t sufficiently readable. It also looked kinda old and dirty. So of course a simple job became a much longer job, as these things do. I was amazed just how long it took me to paint four of these boards – five including the small one. In retrospect of course, it would have been much quicker to spray paint the whole thing and start again with the lettering from scratch!

There was also a bit of a time pressure, as of course, the kafeneon was due to open up again on 3rd May. Finally, after many, many hours hunched over the boards with a necessarily small paintbrush, they were completed – and quite smart they are too.

Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the finished masterpieces!

Here’s a painting of Synandisi kafeneon before Takis did the makeover – compete with dark green shutters and paintwork. Its available as a gicleee print on cotton canvas HERE

The next time you’re in Koroni – do check out the new interior of Synandisi kafeneon – it’s really smart and spacious, with a lovely grey colour scheme and some fab lighting above the bar. The loos have also been completely re-done too, and the outside tables and chairs are now a super smart grey. The menu, happily remains the same as before. We look forward to a few plates of gavros there in the summer.