Nikos Siragas: Wood Art

Nikos Siragas, who is local to Rethymnon is one of the few remaining wood carvers and wood turners on Crete. His work is internationally renowned: he has given demonstrations at exhibitions and seminars in many different countries across the globe. Nikos, along with his wife Frances Wildey, has now written a book: From Tree to Gallery. Wood Art from Crete.

It says something that whilst the book is specifically geared towards wood turning professionals, much of the content will also be of interest to the lay person. Nikos describes his background with affection. He grew up in Rethymnon at a time before the advent of mass tourism when the town was very different from today! His artistic leanings started to emerge when he was a teenager, and he set up his first workshop with a friend in 1980.

Nikos is largely self-taught. His philosophy about artistic wood turning is basically ‘anything goes’. He loves experimenting with different techniques and shapes. As he points out, this puts him at a disadvantage in terms of displaying his work in some of the larger galleries, who generally want a ‘themed body of work’. On the plus side, though, it does mean that many of the pieces that he produces are truly unique

Most of the wood that Nikos uses is native to Crete: for example olive, walnut, eucalyptus, poplar and briar root. He likes to work in harmony with the shape and grain of each piece of wood he is using, with the result that he manages to produce some stunning works of art. Throughout the evenings in the summer, you will be able to watch Nikos at work on his lathe outside his workshop (see contact details below).

You can order From Tree to Gallery online from the www.siragas.gr website, where you can also find out more about Nikos and his work. Copies of the book are also available from Nikos’ workshop which is at Petalioti 2, Rethymnon (this is a small street off the beach road about 250 metres east of the marina); opening hours 10.00 to 14.30 and 18.00 to 22.00, Monday to Saturday during the summer. The book will also be on sale at NewsStand (Square of the Unknown Soldier) in the near future. Highly recommended to those who wish to learn about woodturning methods, but also to those who wish to gain insight into some lesser known aspects of traditional life on Crete.

Cocktail of the Month: ‘May Day’

This would appear to be more like a fruit salad than a cocktail, but never mind. Luc says that if you have a problem getting hold of passion fruit, just ’buy some fruit with passion’…..

You will need: Rum, two ripe peaches, stoned and chopped, four strawberries cut into cubes, flesh and seeds of two passion fruit, a tablespoon of sugar, two teaspoons of grated ginger, and crushed ice. Mix the whole lot together.

The recipe tells you to garnish the cocktail with an apple ‘fan’, but in our experience making these things is fiddly and time consuming and you don’t want the ice to melt, so you can leave this step out.