Any visitors to the off-grid Cycladic island of Antiparos last year may have discovered Bardot – a beautifully restored and realised bar and restaurant in the former home of a local shipbuilding family. Architects Andreas Kostopoulos and James McNally of Manhattan Projects worked with restaurateurs Thanasis Panourgias and Harry Spyrou to bring a breezy world of old charm and new spirit to life in cocktails, small plates, creative direction and atmosphere. We tend to think of Cycladic culture in the distant past – here it is laid bare in modern glory.
Maison Bardot, a new gallery on Antiparos
In 2024, the stellar team has spread their vision across the street, tackling a nondescript 1990s building, and transforming it into an interdisciplinary gallery space. Wryly described by the team as ‘a white box gallery gone native’, there is certainly nothing sterile about Maison Bardot.
Instead, it is a layered, textured, materially rich environment. A ridged stucco wall treatment brings a powerful tactility to the space. A large lightbox overhead translates the passage of the sun into an intriguing shadow play within. Terracotta tiles introduce a grounded, primal warmth.
The architectural and interior framework provides a rich, crafted canvas against which a series of furniture designs and objects become elegant vignettes rather than starker plinthed positionings. For the inaugural show, Maison Bardot has enlisted Antiqua – the celebrated Athens-based midcentury design gallery – to inhabit the space. Here we find an exceptional collection of furniture and objects by designers including Ettore Sottsass, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Gaetano Pesce and Tito Agnoli. It is a riotous feast for even the most casual of design lovers.
Against the backdrop of mass tourism and the parasitic impact it can have on small communities, the team behind the Bardot family understands the significance of creating destinations rooted in local culture and craftsmanship. These are more than transient tourist offerings, they are sensitive cultural endeavours that bring together past and present to carefully establish a future, for local residents and visitors alike.
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