After Une Maison à Saint-Tropez, a new art & design exhibition by Leslie Kabla
Curator Leslie Kabla presents Un Été à Hydra, an exhibition bringing together designers, ceramicists, painters, sculptors and artisans whose practices engage in dialogue with Greece, its landscapes and its craftsmanship.
© Leslie Kabla. Stone façade of the Melina Mercouri building, located on Hydra’s harbour. A former 19th century quarantine station (lazaretto), the building today bears the name of actress and Minister of Culture Melina Mercouri.
Presented in a historic stone building on Hydra’s harbour, just steps from the DESTE Foundation, the exhibition takes over the Melina Mercouri building and transforms it, for the length of a summer, into a lived-in Mediterranean space.
Un Été à Hydra takes the form of an inhabited living room: a place where one enters as though visiting friends, where objects seem to have always been there, and where art blends naturally into everyday gestures.
© Joseph Alexiadis. Kilim, antique chests and Skyros chairs (vintage Greek pieces by Martinos Antiques), sculpture on the piano by Costa Coulentianos (1952), ceramic backgammon table by Jeanne Chardin, floor lamp by Agnès Bitton, daybed and side table by Saridis of Athens, stool, wall-mounted textile artwork (right) and ceramics by Leda Athanasopoulou, wall-mounted textile artwork (left) by Lina Zedig, drawings (background) by Romain Cadilhon.
A piano faces the sea. Around it, furniture, ceramics, paintings, textiles, handcrafted objects and vintage pieces come together to form the different spaces of a Greek summer: backgammon is played, a recital is heard, one lingers over a drink. Visitors move freely between a living room, a dining area and a reading corner, following the rhythm of a day spent on the island.
Inspired by Hydra’s traditional houses, where architectural simplicity converses with rich craftsmanship, the exhibition celebrates a Mediterranean way of life rooted in slowness, sharing and quiet beauty.
© Joseph Alexiadis. Chess set by Jeanne Chardin, No. 103 dining table and Klismos 3A chair by Saridis of Athens.
Through this exhibition, Leslie Kabla continues her exploration of places, craftsmanship and Mediterranean ways of living. Following Une Maison à Saint-Tropez, which reimagined the atmosphere of a Tropezian home through contemporary artists and designers, she opens a new chapter inspired by Hydra’s distinct identity, its preserved architecture, maritime history and craft traditions.
The pieces on view – furniture, ceramics, artisan objects and limited editions, will be available for purchase throughout the exhibition. They will also be offered after the summer on LK Shop, Leslie Kabla’s online store (opening soon), which will extend Un Été à Hydra and future exhibitions in the series.
© Joseph Alexiadis Right: Ceramic backgammon (Jeanne Chardin), wrought-iron structure (Nikos Zantidis).
The exhibition brings together notably Leda Athanasopoulou, Elina Belou, Daphne Leon, Lina Zedig, Jeanne Chardin, Claudio Coltorti, Leonie Specht, Romain Cadilhon, the greek sculptor Costa Coulentianos (1918–1995), furniture by Saridis of Athens, as well as Alexander Lee Page, Marco Villard, Agnès Bitton (Galerie Ninetto), Greek artisans Nikos Zantidis and Maan Halaoui, and Martinos Antiques for the vintage.
