While walking aimlessly...

... through the streets of Skopelos, pretty island in Northern Sporades, Greece, I had by chance an interesting encounter.
In a very small laboratory-museum, which gave directly onto the narrow street, there was a craftsman building a spectacular ancient sailing ship model.
Although I'm not a fan of modelling, I stopped to admire his art and, soon, curiosity left space to my wonder. I did not believe somebody could achieve such perfection: every single detail was taken care of with maniacal precision, following closely the pattern of construction which the craftsman was in possession.
Forget the cold kit boxes! As they are faithful, the components are manufactured in series and their assembly is very simple because the instructions: Tengiz (for friends of Skopelos simply Danos) is a real "shipwright", and for him is not conceivable to construct a model that is not, fully, absolutely identical to the original. He builds handcrafted each single piece, each frieze of carved wood and metal, modeling them with great skill, he assembles the components without using nails or screws but only wood pegs and glue, he takes care of rigging and sails as if his ship would really sail and maneuver in the troubled waters of the Aegean Sea.
The result is a superbe handwork of great quality, which requires thousands hours of work to be completed.
His collection includes sailing ships of the pre-Roman period (ships Phoenicians and Greeks), Viking drakkars , galleons, warships, schooners, skippers and other wonders that you will never find in any modelling store: every item is unique.
Danos hasn't got a shop but he's willing to sell some of his works: if you are interested to see or to buy one of his creations, or require the construction of a specific model, you can take contact through the application form you can find on this site.