The Desperates

The Greek brand ‘Desperate Design’ was born in Ermoupolis of Syros by Zefi Ioannou and Eirini Tatsiopoulou. Both women with mutual studies and experience in the area of product design, but also as partners working under the same roof, and even though the specialized in different fields of fashion design, they share the same vision, teamwork, progress and the creation of new products.

Since 2012 until recently the firm was called “Desperate Artists”. The name desperate came up as a joke between friends who repeated it over and over again so they finally got used to it. Therefore, the first “Desperate Artists” exhibition was a fact on December 2012. Girls were active in the exhibition sector for years, in Ermoupolis, Ano Syros, Athens and other islands such as Paros, so on December 2016 the design workshop named ‘Desperate Artists-The Design Lab”, opens. At first the name of our company, is figurative and conveys positive messages that someone desperately wants to have a bag, a jewelry or an accessory that has been made with love and respect, not only for the product and the consumer also. It also declares the “despair” of the founders of the brand, who have studied and love design, to act and create their own items in this small island of Cyclades, away from big cities’ market. The inspiration comes from Syros which is also the permanent residence of team members. For many years “Your Own Desperate” was our motto.

The company in its eight years of experience in fashion, specializes in the design of handcrafted metal jewelry in combination with semiprecious stones, as well as other cannabis or polyester twine accessories, plus there are projects with reusable materials to recycle the item and create new product. From the conception of the idea to the final result, each object is treated as unique. Essentially, the whole user experience is designed, not just the accessory, maintaining its personality in keeping up with the trends of season. In the workshop, which is the main point of sale, Zefi and Eirini, spend countless hours every day exchanging ideas, experimenting and often they do tests free from the needs set by fashion industry. The constant interaction between them is one of the key elements associated with progress and is reflected in the special jewelry collection, as well as design suggestions for bags and accessories with a distinct personality.

After the creation of the workshop, artistic worries and successes did not allow Zefi and Eirini to be reassured. They had left their exhibitions in the beautiful, medieval settlement of Ano Syros in the past. On the way, however, they found that they lacked contact with the purity of the place and the hospitable neighborhood from the everyday summer life. This is of great importance to artistic influence because, here is different: Syros’ citizens and visitors live the contrast of the residential environment, on the one hand the medieval settlement with the Cycladic influences on the hill, on the other hand Hermoupolis imposing neoclassicals are, in the end, two different places that strike a balance in the inspiration of Zefi and Eirini. So, in July 2018, the Desperate pop-up store was created in the heart of Ano Syros. The small shop is completely aesthetically harmonized with the requirements of the landscape. The pop-up store, besides aiming to showcase the desperate products – collections, annually hosts and strongly supports many brands of young Greek designers in clothing, jewelry, footwear and accessories.