Thessaly

The central plain of mainland Greece, ringed by mountains including the southern side of Olympus.

PINAX has no object made only in Thessaly at launch. Our cultivated organic mountain tea (Sideritis) may come from a grower here or from Central Macedonia, depending on who is signed; the record will name the region once the grower is known. The Olympus species, Sideritis scardica, is listed by the IUCN as Near Threatened, which is why we would buy only cultivated, certified-organic stems.

Thessaly also appears in the story of another craft. The travelling woodcarvers of Metsovo, in Epirus, worked across northern Greece and Thessaly, and the carved altar screen of 1791 at the Great Meteoron is among the church screens that survive. Our carved spoon comes from Metsovo itself.

We are also reading about Thessaly as a home of tsipouro, a grape-pomace spirit of about 40 to 45% alcohol with an EU geographical indication. PINAX sells no alcohol at launch, because excise duty is owed in the buyer’s country, so this stays research only. Flokati wool rugs are linked to Epirus and Thessaly mills too, but we have not found the primary legal text behind claims that the name is protected, so we do not repeat them.