Doors of Kypseli

This project was two years in the making between 2022 and 2024, and is my first published book. The photographic research began in 2016, though at the time I hadn’t conceived of making an illustrated book.

Author - Eleanor Lines
Publisher - Hyper Hypo
Released - May 2024
Pages - 240
Size 18cm x 13cm
Hardback
Printed in Greece by Future Format

ISBN: 9786188664661

Doors of Kypseli is a serious, beautiful, and meticulously rendered dive into the surprising modernity of mid 20th century Athenian architecture. A compilation of 100 illustrations presenting the diverse array of wrought iron door designs from this culturally and geographically central Athens neighbourhood, Doors of Kypseli is Lines’s love letter to her adopted city.

With camera, or smartphone, in hand, Lines methodically traverses through Kypseli, north, south, east and west, through tiny side streets and down grand boulevards, photographing, cataloguing and selecting the most unique and interesting doors in the neighbourhood and its surrounding borders. Lines’s curation, based on these walks in the area, focuses on designs from the 1930s to the 1960s, with influences from Art Deco, Bauhaus, and modernist design. Using the resulting photos, Eleanor manipulates, vectorizes and perfects each door; replacing missing handles, completing long since rusted bars, and bringing each back to an illustrated version of its former glory. Every design is then converted and printed in astunning signature blue (inspired by the blueprints of the vintage architectural drawings) which serves to enhance the visual impact of the multitudinous patterns.

Accompanied by an insightful essay by cultural writer Nikos Vatopoulos, Doors of Kypseli not only celebrates the beauty of these wrought iron masterpieces, but also delves into the social and historical significance ofAthenian urban development.

As Kypseli becomes more and more gentrified, with certain doors and even entire buildings disappearing, Doors of Kypseli will serve as a design archive of the unique architectural details of a quickly changing city. Lines hopes that her documentation of these entrances will inspire future generations (and perhaps even our own generation) to preserve these and other architectural gems.