The artisans of tradition
Text & Photos: Stefanos Gogos & Maria Passarivaki
In Kornos, red clay is not merely a material; it is a living heritage that has shaped Cyprus’ culture and carried it beyond the island’s borders.
We set out early in the morning, the road leading us from the heart of Nicosia into the depths of the Cypriot countryside. Old settlements pass before our eyes, wrapped in an almost otherworldly silence. The coolness of the fields spreads like a veil through the air, and the sunlight awakens on the hilltops. Our destination is Kornos, a small village that preserves the most important legacy of Cypriot pottery, where craftswomen still fire their ceramics in the same kilns of bygone eras. Its hallmark is the water jar, and tradition has inscribed the craft into the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Cyprus.
FROM YESTERDAY TO TODAY
The fame of its red vessels, especially the Pitharia (storage jars), had for centuries spread far beyond the island’s borders. As early as 1769, according to archaeologist Gloria London, Kornos had already established itself as a major production centre, while during World War II the entire village was engaged in pottery. For many years this craft was a family affair, flourishing mainly in the summer, with the jar-makers travelling to other villages to fulfill orders. Today, it continues in the form of small-scale cottage industry and remains an occupation practiced exclusively by women.
We meet the clay craftswomen –proud-eyed, strong-handed, transforming earth into works of art– at the only workshop still in operation, the Kornos Coop Pottery. Their first gesture is not words but action. They place a handful of clay into our palms, a welcome that reveals their unbreakable bond with the land.
Among them, Vassoula Adamou stands out. In 2007, realising that only older women were continuing the craft and fearing it might vanish, she decided to learn it herself. “Almost everything we use is given to us by the land itself – from the soil that becomes clay to the branches that feed the fire. Did you know that once all the cities of Cyprus obtained their vessels from Kornos to store their water? Back then we made pottery mainly for household use and less for decoration,” she tells us with a smile. And she adds with emphasis, “We must safeguard our heritage as the apple of our eye.” Her stories carry us back to other times. Even in her childhood, the wood-fired kilns smoked daily in the village, baking pitharia, Pitharouthkia for meat, and Kouzes for water. For the larger vessels, the craftswomen worked the clay strip by strip while it was still moist. Today, many of those pieces still adorn homes across the island – living traces of a heritage that endures.
Clay is born from the red earth that comes from Stavrovouni. In the past, it was spread out in the courtyards to dry and beaten with the Koupani, a hard stick of golden oak, until it turned to powder. They say it was even spread on the village paths, so that people, animals, and carts would trample it until the lumps dissolved. Then it was kneaded in makeshift troughs with wooden shovels and stacked beside the wheel, where the vessels would be shaped. ”Later, the cooperative introduced simple mechanical tools, but without changing the essence of the process,” says a craftswoman seated at the wooden, square, foot-powered wheel, the Gyristari. With nothing more than her hands and feet, she shapes culture itself. The vessel is built step by step, with care and persistence. Once complete, it is turned upside down and the excess is removed until it takes its final form. The process is arduous and demanding, with only simple tools: a piece of cloth for the larger vessels, a toothpick, and a knife for trimming away surplus clay.
A LIVING MUSEUM
Pottery in Kornos is not confined to the workshop. Clay here is not just shaped – it is celebrated. Every autumn it becomes the reason for the Kornos Pottery Festival, a celebration that unites the village with its community. Behind this effort are people who have remained here. Through educational activities, free workshops, live music, and local flavours, visitors are welcomed and initiated into the centuries-old craft, showing that the techniques of traditional trades still have a future.
And when it’s time to return, the village’s narrow streets invite us for one last stroll. The houses, with their tiled roofs, arches, and wooden shutters, retain the charm of traditional architecture. At the centre, the old café Yasemi now serves as a folklore museum, a small repository of memory. A little further on, the Church of Timios Prodromos, built in the early 19th century, stands with its Gothic style and an icon of the saint dating back to 1734. Throughout the village, the art of handmade craft always finds a way to appear – on the decorated vessels of the craftswomen, in the silverware of Demetris Stafylaris, or in the mosaics of Constantinos Christou. Every corner bears witness to the identity of a place that preserves its uniqueness, even as the times change.
