ILIAS LALAOUNIS Bracelet Circa 1970’s

Bracelet; 18 kt yellow gold flexible sectional bracelet with concealed clasp.

A bold gold statement

ILIAS LALAOUNIS (1920- )

Ilias Lalaounis born in the heart of Athens is today an internationally renowned artist and jeweler. After working in the family business for many years he founded his own company, today titled Greek Gold-Ilias Lalaounis S.A.. Initially branches were opened on several Greek Islands and soon expanded through Europe to New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong. He has received many prizes for his art with the outmost important being that of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1990, as the only jeweler ever to be elected as its member.

His career begins in the ’40s when he oversaw works for the Zolotas firm a9also featured on this website). At those very difficult years within the Greek society, both politically and financially, Lalaounis turned to new ways of promoting the business. At first with the manufacturing of chains, later continuing the gem setting jewelry and later he made his own designs prescribed for gold 18k and 22k works. In the Fifties his ingenious idea of reviving Greek jewelry was hugely successful and without doubt changed his life and career. Ancient artifacts sparked off his imagination and inspired his jewelry designs for the woman of today. Lalaounis’s knowledge and grasp for the art and history of early civilizations led to a number of ‘archaeological’ collections based on various cultures in Europe, Asia and America. In the Seventies he proved his inexhaustible ability to create and his continuous search for new ideas with some spectacular designs based on modern technology, astronomy, nature and medicine, to mention a few. He overwhelmed his clientele with the sheer diversity of his jewelry and the richness of the gold for which he became well known.

Today in the modernized facilities of his new workshop, established in 1993, jewelry is being designed for Lalaounis galleries in Greece and all over the world. The company as well as the trade and the Museum have been undertaken by his four daughters Katerini, Demetra, Maria and Ioanna.