Paraskevi Kokolaki was born and raised in Thessaloniki, with origins from Crete, Malta and Istanbul.
The multicultural culture of her home country and the city she grew up in, combined with her personal concerns, led her to a multilevel and unrestricted path of study. She has been painting, drawing and creating artwork and utilitarian objects since she was very young. She studied vitraux (2000-2001), photography (2003-2004) and then design and creation of handmade and industrial jewellery at the MOKUME School of Silversmithing (2003-2007). She has attended seminars in hot enamel, plating, Maltesing (wire weaving based on a medieval technique), fine art prints and engraving techniques, weaving, object design and participated in many exhibitions and competitions.
For two years (2008-2010) she attended courses in the European Culture Department at the Hellenic Open University. In 2008 she set up her personal workshop and shop in the centre of Thessaloniki and since 2016 she has been running only her personal workshop. In the years 2013-2015 she participated in the training of young silversmiths in the PR.I.ME (Promoting Intergenerational Learning in Mediterranean countries) project coordinated by IRFI (Italy, Lazio). Since 2013 she has been teaching handmade jewellery techniques in Art Workshops in several cities in Greece (Athens, Lamia, Chania, Naxos, Thessaloniki). In 2016 she moved to Athens and among other things she collaborated (and continues her collaboration) with Anamma (Contemporary Visual Jewellery Workshop) as a lecturer in courses and seminars. From 2019 to 2023 she lived in Naxos. There… through the observation of nature, the materials available in the place (emeralds, marble, seawater, seaweed, shells, etc.), she evolved the way she managed the materials and created series of jewellery whose stories were based on the new stimuli she received. She currently lives and creates in Thessaloniki.
Her jewellery is made mainly with precious metals and stones. She uses hot enamel and creates handmade patinas to give the desired effect on the surfaces, as well as experimenting with different materials such as porcelain, paper, etc.
The stimuli that trigger and activate the creation of her jewellery are many. She is inspired by anything that moves and stimulates her senses… a work of art, a texture, light and shadow, the sea, a journey, a story. Very often she creates jewellery series based on experiential elements, such as for example the series Soadea which is related to the land of Crete and the Minoan culture.
From 2011 onwards, her work has an artistic orientation not only in terms of jewellery, but also in the creation of sculptures and installations, as she participates in exhibitions. Influenced, in part, by her studies in silversmithing, her works have a common denominator in their emphasis on detail. She often uses symbols, words, texts on paper or metal, a clear allusion to the concept of the ephemeral and the importance of the trace.
In the last year he has been studying and experimenting with porcelain, creating utilitarian objects.
