Tessera has been on the third floor of Karaiskaki 12 since 2014. We design identities, packaging, websites and signs for companies that make real things, and we take 4 projects at a time so the people you meet are the people who do the work.
Karaiskaki 12. The lit windows are ours; the awning is K. Drakos, our first client.
What we believe
Four things we have learned the expensive way, and still use to decide what to do on a Monday morning.
Design for the worst day
A timetable read in wind and full sun. A tin on the bottom shelf under strip lights. A booking page on a cracked phone at two in the morning. If the work holds up there, it holds up.
The most-used thing first
We start with the thing people touch every day: the departures board, the label, the booking form. The logo comes last, and it is usually the quickest part.
Small on purpose
Six people, four projects at a time. The people on your first call are the people who do the work, from that call to the launch.
Prices in public
Every service has a published starting price, and every project a fixed price per phase. The first conversation should be about the work.
What we will not do
Pitch for free. We show our work and write a plan; we do not design your answer before hearing your question.
Design a logo on its own. A logo without the things it goes on is a guess.
Hand over and vanish. The first months of real use are in the price.
Take a fifth project. When the table is full, there is a waiting list.
Work for tobacco, betting or arms companies, whatever the fee.
The six
No account managers, no juniors hidden behind a senior on the first call. Portraits by Chara, in the only medium the studio name allowed.
Eleni Markou
Founder, creative director, since 2014
Trained as a typographer in Thessaloniki, spent six years at a studio in Rotterdam, came home to draw ferry timetables. Still writes every price sheet herself.
Leads Identity, and every first call
Jonas Weller
Design director, since 2016
Came from Hamburg for one summer in 2016. Runs the Friday wall, and keeps a tin from every shelf he has redesigned.
Leads Identity and wayfinding
Nikos Stathis
Technical lead, since 2018
Builds the websites and says no to plugins. Tests every page on a 2019 phone on the metro home.
Leads Websites and generators
Aiko Hayashi
Senior designer, since 2020
Knows every press in Attica by its quirks and is at every print run we have, usually at six in the morning.
Leads Packaging and print
Chara Vlachou
Motion and illustration, since 2022
Grew up above her parents' bakery in Patras, which may explain Nightjar. Makes the systems move: sleeves, signs, titles.
Leads Motion and illustration
Tom Okafor
Developer, since 2023
Reads every page with a screen reader before a client sees it. Moved from Manchester for the light and stayed for the bread.
Leads Front end and accessibility
The third floor
140 square metres, no lift. A long table made from an old ship's hatch cover, a cork wall for the work, a quiet room for calls and a library of 1,200 books and 300 tins.
A day, and a week
9:30
Coffee at the long table. Everyone says what they are stuck on.
13:30
Lunch together, usually bread from the bakery on the corner.
Friday, 16:00
The Friday wall. Every project in progress is pinned up at real size, and anyone can move anything.
Print days
Someone from the studio is at every print run, which often means six in the morning in Oinofyta.
August
Closed for the first two weeks. The ferries are not, so someone is always on call for Halcyon.
How we got here
Twelve years, one address, and a few decisions that made the studio smaller and better.
2014
A room above the chandler
Eleni opens Tessera in one room on the third floor of Karaiskaki 12. The first client is downstairs: K. Drakos Ship Supplies needs a price list sailors can read.
2015
The first timetable
Posters for Saronic Line, two boats to Aegina. The start of an unreasonable interest in departures boards.
2016
Jonas arrives for a summer
He is still here. The studio takes the whole third floor, and the long table is built from an old ship's hatch cover.
2018
We start building what we design
Nikos joins, and Tessera stops handing websites to other agencies to build.
2019
Prices go on the website
Enquiries fall by a third. The ones that remain are the ones we want.
2020
Aiko and the first tins
Packaging becomes a practice of its own, and the library starts collecting tins.
2021
We stop pitching for free
We lose two pitches that year and keep the studio. We have not pitched since.
2022
Chara, and signs on a mountain
Motion becomes part of every identity. Oros Mountain School puts our signs above a metre of snow.
2023
Tom, and the 200% rule
Every page is tested at 200% zoom and with a screen reader from the first sketch.
2026
Nine islands, one departures board
Halcyon Ferries launches on eleven quays. The port office queue halves in July.
Who we work for
Ferry lines and potters, a bank and a bakery. The ones with a link have a case study.
K. Drakos Ship SuppliesRetail, since 2014
Saronic LineTransport, since 2015
Nordhafen BankFinance, since 2017
Kastro HotelsHospitality, since 2018
Lumen OpticiansRetail, since 2019
Piraeus Maritime Museum FriendsCulture, since 2020
