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POLIS IOANNOU: A Man with a Plan
With his love for architecture and an infallible eye for great art, EPITOME's founder and CEO Polis Ioannou is a worldly cosmopolitan who knows the art of hospitality from the inside out.
M, 45, 1.78, 80, Minimalist
Identity reissued

Cyprus. There is no place like home.

Polis is a sharer. He's also a professional globetrotter and serial marketer, but that only came later. He started out life in Cyprus as the kid who shared too much (think toys), turning into the sort of overly generous adult who never knew when NOT to pick up the bill. But let's get back to business. Polis stumbled into hospitality by accident. Fascinated with hotel architecture and interiors, he realized he actually preferred developing and promoting hotels to building them, as it was better suited to his Mediterranean temperament.

I was way too stubborn to be an architect. I couldn’t face any sort of criticism about the things I loved!
34D 45' 26.94", 33D 19' 13.40"

Psematismenos Village. Spring - Easter Roses.

37D 58' 32.25", 23D 44' 26.39"

Cycladic Museum. My favourite weekend retreat.

37D 58' 30.67", 23D 43' 19.31"

Stoa of Attalos, Athens. Greek perfection.

37D 25' 21.55", 25D 23' 22.86"

Mykonos. Summer vacations.

Fly Me To The Moon 
Radiation City, 2013

He made it his life's work to collaborate with artists, architects and designers, while marketing new hospitality ventures and nurturing growth. As one would expect, he threw himself a little too passionately into every single project that came his way but, luckily, he has no regrets. And neither do any of the people he worked with - including Amanzo’e Greece, designed by Ed Tuttle in 2012 for Aman Resorts.

Cyprus was my playground.

Greece was a harder nut to crack – but then again I’ve always loved a challenge!

Imagine his surprise, when he realized he was ready to strike out on his own. It was finally his turn to be surrounded by creatives. We are happy to report he is currently the head of EPITOME, a communication channel aiming to inspire and educate people eager to experience the country in a completely different way.

It’s as if there was this unspoken law about how Greece was supposed to be portrayed in the rest of the world. Why limit the way beauty is expressed?
37D 58' 06.02", 23D 44' 20.12"

Panathenaic Stadium, Athens. Fly me to the moon.

EPITOME condenses every single grain of knowledge he’s picked up along the way, bridging the gap between the savvy traveller and business owner and the clandestine beauties of Greece. A regular at the most exclusive, by-invitation-only travel fairs, Polis is a man with a plan: to curate a host of experts that will tailor each client’s travel experience down to the very last detail. He's also working really hard on not paying for everyone's drinks every time he goes out.

Credits

Words
Despina Pavlaki

Cover artwork
Polis Peslikas

Photos
Polis Ioannou



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