Museum of Art and Design

20/10/2025

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your presence at the successful inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Art and Design 17th of October 2025.

We are also delighted to announce that our next exhibition will take place on November 7th at 19:00 pm.

We look forward to welcoming you once again, as we present
SKOUFA GALLERY one of the most renowned galleries of Athens, located in the Kolonaki area.

The exhibition will feature works by acclaimed Greek artists such as Tsarouchis, Tetsis, Samios, Fasianos, Mantzavinos, Kottis, Makris, and many others.

Maria Ignatiou Shiakalli Founder and Artistic Director
Artist Maria Ignatiou Shiakalli

Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos Chief Curatorial Strategist
Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos

09/10/2025

Works by Italian mixed-media artist Leonardo Blanco and Greek painter Mara Tsafantaki, alongside a keynote address by Italian designer Giulio Masciocchi

09/10/2025

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Financial Mirror and Mr. Masis DerParthogh for their thoughtful coverage of the Inaugural Exhibition of the Museum of Art and Design

Founder and Artistic Director Artist Maria Ignatiou Shiakalli

The newly-established Museum of Art and Design will host its inaugural exhibition on Friday, October 17, with a star-studded lineup of international artists and speakers. This landmark event marks a significant milestone in Cyprus’s cultural landscape and underscores the museum’s mission to beco...

01/10/2025

Leonardo Blanco (Santarcangelo di Romagna, 1968) is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, sculpture, and installation. He has exhibited internationally, including the Venice Biennale (2009), Beijing Biennale (2005), and Documenta – EUARCA in Kassel (2022). His works are held in public and private collections, with permanent installations in San Marino, Strasbourg, Nazareth, and Beijing, and he has completed major public commissions such as the monumental steel sculpture at the entrance to San Marino’s city centre.

20/09/2025

Meet our Distinguished Guest and Keynote Speaker at Museum of Art and Design Inaugural Exhibition 17th of October 2025, Giulio Masciocchi, an esteemed Italian designer who has collaborated with renowned Italian luxury brands.

17/09/2025

Mara Tsafantaki
Museum of Art and Design
Inaugural Exhibition Friday, October 17, 2025
Mara Tsafantaki is a distinguished Greek painter, born in Athens in 1974. She graduated with a degree in Painting and an integrated master of fine arts in 1999 from the Athens School of Fine Arts, under the mentorship of Professor Chronis Botsoglou. During her studies, she also pursued Set Design with Yiorgos Ziakas. In 1998, she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Seville, where she studied symbolism, mythology, and illustration under Professor D. Luis Martinez Montiel.
Her work has been showcased in three solo exhibitions in Athens and in numerous group exhibitions both in Greece and internationally.
Since 2003, Tsafantaki has illustrated eleven children’s books, published by leading Greek publishing houses Patakis and Papadopoulos.
Her illustration for “Little Leo and the Circusmicroworld”, written by Kostas Charalas, was longlisted for the 2006 Greek State Illustration Awards and was later published in South Korea.

21/08/2025

“The Museum’s Iconic Collection”
Versace Vanitas Armchair

21/08/2025

“The Museum’s Iconic Collection”
Barovier & Toso Izmir Murano Chandelier

30/07/2025

We are deeply honored and privileged to welcome the distinguished visual artist & curator George Taxiarchopoulos, as the Chief Curatorial Strategist and Partner of the Museum of Art and Design in Nicosia/ Cyprus.

With an acclaimed career marked by visionary projects and a profound commitment to artistic innovation, Mr. Taxiarchopoulos brings a unique perspective and expertise that will enrich the Museum’s curatorial direction and strategic growth.

Through our collaboration we underscore our dedication to fostering dialogue between contemporary art and design, and to expanding our institutional role as a dynamic cultural entity.
We look forward to embarking on this exciting new chapter together and to the transformative impact of his creative leadership.

Founder Artist Maria Ignatiou Shiakalli

George Taxiarchopoulos
Born in Athens, Greece, οn 18 February 1972, George, is permanent resident of the Cyprus Republic since December
2023. He is Internationally Certified Art Expert (2008, Swiss Approval International ISO-17024) and internationally
awarded visual artist, active since 2001 until nowadays. Ηe was the awarded artist of the 8th International Prize for
Young Creators from the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy group (Paris 2002), the 1st Pan-Hellenic Prize Award for Greek
Artists from the Y&Z Spyropoulos Foundation (Athens 2003) and has achieved several scholarships from established
cultural foundations, such as: the Germination13 (EU Biennial, Paris 2001), The National Scholarship Foundation of
Greece (IKY, Athens 2004-2007), the B&E Goulandris Foundation (Athens 20072008), the CCA Kitakyushu
Scholarship Committee (Kitakyushu 2007-2008), the UNICULT2020 International Cultural Management & Cultural
Policies capacity building program of the Rijeka2020 ECOC (Rijeka 2016).
His distinguished contemporary art, together with his innovative creative ideas and his studies on Economics (BA),
Visual Arts (BFA, MFA), Digital Art Forms (MDA), Education (PhD-c) and Cultural Management (CMA, UNICULT2020)
make him an invaluable mind and adjustable, highly skilled art expert. Enriched by his international personal &
professional experiences that cultivated and empowered his soft and hard skills in accordance to his fine
cosmopolitan character, his ability to improve and learn constantly and his large experience on all education levels
of typical and non-typical education as teacher and coach/mentor- make him also, a unique artistic & cultural
manager. He is able to inspire and lead teams of creative experts, artists and production working teams also, into
high quality delivered assessments and innovative art tasks and projects of fine artistic sense and popularity.
Currently, he serves as Artistic Director (freelancer) of the Limassol Municipal Arts Centre – Apothikes Papadaki
(Papadakis Warehouses), the city’s Contemporary Art Centre.