15% OFF sitewide with code SELENE15
the story of It's All Greek!
If you are here, then you probably share my passion for Greece, the land and its people, its history, art and civilisation, and are inspired by beautiful Greek things!
It's All Greek has always been an intensely personal enterprise, a vision inspired at every turn by passion, by people, and by the products.
It has been a colourful odyssey! Read on if you are curious!
Elinor
the birth of a passion
My parents and I first went to Greece in 1972. At that time, you could walk inside the Parthenon! My 12 year old self fell in love with the beauty, the colours, the light, the sea, the sky.
Armed with a degree from Oxford, I became a Classics teacher. I shall always remember the looks of sheer joy and wonder on the faces that saw Delphi, the Akropolis, and Olympia for the first time. Lying down in the orchestra at Epidvaros to form the letters of our school became a tradition on each trip!
I would always bring bits and bobs back with me to use in the classroom....in 1996, a bronze Diskobolos and a little bronze tripod. Wouldn't it be amazing to have a way of selling things like this to fellow enthusiasts and teachers back in the UK?
And so It's All Greek was born. With no knowledge of ecommerce websites or the first clue as to how to import from Greece to the UK, things weren't looking too good at first. Nor did I have any idea of where to find suppliers, let alone how to pay them. And my Homeric Greek (not that brilliant anyway....) wouldn't be much use...
But after trawling around Athens a couple of times, consuming many takeaways during the process of making the website with husband Phil, itsallgreek.co.uk went live in December 2000. The first order popped in at the end of January!
the Bloomsbury years: 2003-2018
The first Greek supplier I discovered whilst trawling around Athens was Kostas Semitekolo. The little discus thrower and the tripod turned out to be two of his superb bronzes. His pieces have formed the bedrock of It's All Greek for these past 26 years. Other amazing suppliers soon joined team IAG. Soon we had the unique blend of media, texture, colour and style which had been my dream!
After trade and retail fairs, finally a proper shop, opposite the British Museum! 65 Great Russell Street (image by Zac Sandler) was a hub of Classical activity, with book launches, fundraisers, academic talks, school visits, and celebrations! Busy, beautiful times, with so much fun! A Golden Age of It's All Greek, for sure!
Over the years, It's All Greek has supplied the movies Troy and Alexander, museum shops including the Ashmolean, Fitzwilliam, Colchester and Edinburgh, famous bookstores Blackwells and Heffers, various TV series including, more recently, Succession - Logan Roy's office!
Added to my own passion came that of my incredible Greek suppliers, that of my wonderful colleagues - team IAG! - during the Bloomsbury years, and that of It's All Greek's thousands of customers all over the world. That's what has given this intensely personal enterprise such energy and impetus over the decades.
It's All Greek has always been an intensely personal enterprise, a vision inspired at every turn by passion, by people, and by the products.
It's All Greek approaches 30!
In 2018, I decided it was time to leave bricks and mortar after 15 wonderful years. A difficult decision, but rent rises made it impossible to stay. So It's All Greek has been exclusively online once again. As we started!
I now run the website and the business on my own, flexibly, from home, - with a diminutive stock room - in tandem with other bits and bobs at elinorwynnelloyd.com
As I find myself on the vintage side of 65, it is wonderful to spend more time in Greece with Phil, and to speak the language. Finally!
THANK YOU to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way, particularly since I left Bloomsbury, when I wasn't sure whether I had the mojo to keep going with It's All Greek without a physical shop and my lovely team IAG! But I couldn't let it go! It is my beloved brainchild after all!
I love hearing from customers old and new, all over the world, so do keep in touch!
Elinor
With my parents in Athens in 2002. My mother Dilys died in 2005, my father Wynne in 2010. I shall always be so grateful to them for everything, but especially for taking me to Greece that first time, and for our shared love of this glorious land, its light, and its people..