NEW YORK – On April 2, in the Grand Salon of the 3 West Club in Manhattan EMBCA, (East Mediterranean Business Cultural Alliance) and its President, Lou Katsos, in collaboration with the AHEPA Delphi Chapter # 25 and the Daughters of Penelope Evriklea Chapter # 36, presented The Impact of Ancient Hellenic Culture in Modern Hellenic Jewelry Design featuring the architect and jewelry designer Xaris Apergi and her work.

An auction of Apergi jewelry was also held following the presentation, to raise money for St. Michael’s Home in Uniondale, and help provide care for the aging population in the Greek Orthodox community, said Effie Streida, Daughters of Penelope Evriklea Chapter # 36 President.

Katsos, also AHEPA Delphi Chapter # 25 President, gave the welcoming remarks and in his introduction spoke about the Greek Revolution and how the “tourists” at that time took “souvenirs” from the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus, which today adorn foreign museums, but not museums in Greece.

The three speakers, Katsos, Delphi Chapter # 25 former president Argyris Argytakos, and Streida, each noted how Xaris Apergi, who lives and creates her designs in Athens, is giving a new breath of life to the symbols of Ancient Greek Culture and through geometric forms revives the memories of thousands of years.

With a wide range of studies, combining architecture, engineering, music, dancing and jewelry design, Apergi, who reconstructed classical buildings, before dealing with jewelry, is one of the new faces in Greece, who, based on Greek heritage, seek to promote through artistic creation our homeland and ancient Greek culture. During the years of crisis, the arts especially have seen a tremendous turnaround.

Clelia Charissis, journalist, poet, and the Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands Director of Literature and Art, was also invited to present her poetry at the event. She recited her works between each chapter of Apergi’s jewelry presentation.

Apergi pointed out the importance of geometry, architecture, and the ancient Greek language, which inspired her work, “By what word could we describe all these artworks that we see around us?”

Slides of her work and the ancient sources of inspiration highlighted the presentation. Apergi said, “What would this word be? Beauty? Wisdom? Perfection? We would rather say Harmony, which includes these three dimensions together with Geometry, which have been the sources of inspiration through which I create objects.”

She noted that the symbol of her Apergi Fine Jewelry Collections is based on two circles with a line through them which stands for the letter phi, the 21^st letter in the Greek alphabet, representing the golden ratio in mathematics, art, and architecture, and the first letter in the name of Pheidias, the ancient Greek sculptor, painter, and architect, who is said to have used the golden ratio in his works.

The letters of the alphabet, nature, geometry, and architecture rhythms all inspire Apergi’s creativity.

“The concept of the alphabet is one of the greatest discoveries of all time, because it has a rational, practical, and orgonomic structure with endless possibilities of verbal combinations. The Greek language prophesied future words, like the Antikythera Mechanism. Through it was born the idea of ??future shapes.”

The jewelry auction followed the presentation with great success.

Jewelry designs by Xaris Apergi. Photo: TNH/ Yanna Katsageorgis

AHEPA Delphi Chapter #25 former president Argyris Argitakos and current president Lou Katsos. Photo: TNH/ Yanna Katsageorgis

Xaris Apergi and some of her jewelry designs. Photo: TNH/ Yanna Katsageorgis

Architect and jewelry designer Xaris Apergi during the presentation. Photo: TNH/ Yanna Katsageorgis