when i first moved to chania from new york, i'd walk all over town trying to uncover every corner of its history. one day, I ended up in koum kapi, A neighborhood east of chania's main harbor. i fell in love. i particularly loved this cute little art deco building sitting near the end of the beachfront with its salmon pink doors and windows. i never could have imagined that one day, years later it would become my art studio, or that my art studio would also have a brasserie serving my favorite foods attached to it, or that people would be eating off of my ceramics. i like to joke that i never had the guts to approach a proper gallery to display my art so in one way, i built my own... and here we are. still trying to build the courage to approach those art galleries but showing my work to people who are relaxing by the Mediterranean in the meantime.

the building we are in was built in 1950 and was a restaurant called maiami (the greek spelling of miami). i decided to keep that name because somehow it made sense to honor this history.

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Alexandra manousakis