The story of “Wood Carving of Volos” by three generations of refugees from N. Ionia Magnesia to the whole world !!!
The story begins in 1960 with two wood carvers, 1st generation refugees from Nea Ionia.
Kyriakos Kioufentzoglou and Georgios Frangoulis where they make a collaboration and create with faith in their talent the company Wood Carving Volos at 18 Ermou Street.
They make handmade ecclesiastical wood carvings for the tradition of our Orthodoxy, they start timidly and with great financial difficulty manage in a short period of time to become known as wood carvers in the Holy Diocese of Demitriados and Almyros with the late Metropolitan as Metropolitan.
He trusts them and assigns them the wood carvings of I.N. St. Panteleimon (orphanage) and remains excited by the two young woodcarvers.
They quickly “open” their jobs, assigning them other Temples.
In 1968 they decide to grow their business and partner with three other woodcarvers of their generation, Konstantinos Mobilos, Stylianos Blanas and Christos Frangoulis (George’s brother). Craftsmen and those of Nea Ionia.
With great love, dedication and giving their place to the ecclesiastics, they have managed to have decorated until 1980 almost all the Temples of Volos and Nea Ionia.
Some large temples such as the Holy Temple of the Annunciation (1968), the Holy Temple of Peter and Paul (1974), the Holy Temple of the Transfiguration of the Savior (1976) and the Holy Temple of St. Dimitriou (1980) their wood carvings adorn to this day.
In 1984 Kyriakos Kioufentzoglou decides to give the baton to the second generation, his son-in-law from Nea Ionia Antonios Sarigiannis and wife of his daughter Kyriakis (hagiographer). While in 1993 to his son Loukas Kioufentzoglou and his son-in-law Georgios Frangoulis Panagiotis Fatsis.
During that period and after they have managed to become known throughout Greece throughout the church and not only and with many artistic distinctions, they “resurrect” an ancient technique of the old temples of Pelion, the folk art Baroque – Baroque, with the help of the great Greek folklorist Kitsos Makris.
Then they learn about this small group of artists from Volos, the elegance and imposingness of their works in Archdioceses and Patriarchates around the world such as: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Patriarchate of Alexandria, Patriarchate of Antioch, Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Patriarchate of Bulgaria, Patriarchate of Georgia, in the eight provinces of Crete, in the Monastic State of Mount Athos and undertake the construction of many of them wood carvings.
In 1998, at the age of 14, the third generation of woodcarvers, the grandson of Kyriakos Kioufentzoglou and son of Antonios Sarigiannis, Panagiotis Sarigiannis, apprentices, took over the entire business in 2004 after the retirement of the first generation and walks the path of his ancestors. of the handmade woodcarving ecclesiastical to this day.
Source: https://volonakinews.gr/agora/xilogliptiki-volou-apo-tris-genies-prosfigon-se-oli-tin-ifilio.html
