Family Diary · Greece
Crete holds a special place in our memories. Not only for the sea, the landscapes, and the island's history, but because it was our son's first flight destination. He was just a year and a half old at the time, and for the first time, there were truly three of us traveling together.
A journey with a new rhythm
Traveling with a small child changes the way you look at places. You make fewer plans, you stop more often, and you pay attention to details that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Crete appeared to us in this way too: not as a sequence of stages to complete, but as a territory to cross calmly. The white of the houses, the blue-painted doors, the bougainvillea on the facades, and the scent of the sea became part of a still very vivid family memory.
Notes from the island
Colors, wind, and Mediterranean landscape
Crete is an island of contrasts. Mountains seem to reach the sea, sandy beaches alternate with rockier stretches, and inhabited centers retain a simplicity that invites you to slow down.
What impressed us most were the colors: the intense blue of the sky, the almost dazzling white of the buildings, the green of the olive trees, and the vibrant hues of the flowers. A spontaneous palette, built by light and not by design.
The light
Clear, warm, and capable of highlighting even the simplest surfaces: an irregular wall, a painted door, a pot left to dry.
The time
In Crete, we rediscovered a less hurried daily life, made of stops, conversations, and small movements without a too rigid schedule.
The material
Stone, clay, wood, and natural fabrics appear everywhere and tell the direct relationship between the island, its landscape, and its inhabitants.
Zorba Beach and music on the sand
At Zorba Beach, the reference to the famous character created by Nikos Kazantzakis is inevitable. The music, the sea, and the landscape bring to mind that idea of freedom and vitality that the film made famous worldwide.
With our son still very young, the beach became the place for the simplest days: walking on the sand, watching the water, stopping without having to do anything else. These are seemingly normal moments, but often they are precisely the ones that last the longest.
The Palace of Knossos and the myth of the labyrinth
The journey also took us to the Palace of Knossos, the great archaeological site linked to the Minoan civilization and, in the collective imagination, to the myth of the Minotaur and its labyrinth.
Walking through courtyards, columns, and remnants of ancient environments helps to understand how much more complex Crete's history is than its seaside image. The sea is always nearby, but the island also preserves a millennia-old culture made of trade, symbols, architecture, and handed-down stories.
We are interested in precisely these places where archaeology and legend continue to coexist. These are stories that still influence the decorations, colors, and some subjects used in local craftsmanship today.
Encounters
Inside the ceramic workshops
An important part of the journey was dedicated to artisan workshops. Entering a workshop immediately allows one to understand that a ceramic object is not born merely from a shape, but from a succession of gestures: preparing the clay, shaping it, waiting for it to dry, decorating it, and entrusting it to firing.
The artisans we met showed us plates, bowls, and vases made using local techniques. Some pieces preserved traditional motifs; others used more essential and contemporary forms. In both cases, the connection with the territory, its colors, and available materials was evident.
That experience strengthened an idea that continues to guide Vicode: before choosing an object, it's important to know its origin, observe how it was made, and listen to the story of its creator.
What we brought home from Crete
From that trip, not only a few objects came back with us. What remained was a way of using color, the pleasure of imperfect forms, and the value of a craft that takes time.
Over the years, some ceramics encountered during our travels have become part of Vicode's selections. Not to artificially recreate a Mediterranean style, but to bring authentic objects into interiors, capable of retaining a recognizable connection with their place of origin.
In our guide to ceramics in decoration we also delve into how to choose and incorporate these objects into home environments, respecting their proportions, colors, and character.
