This is a story about Filio, the creator of FISIKA, and co-founder Maria, unveiling the true meaning of FISIKA brand. How it all started! Written by Yota Celenti, customer and friend of FISIKA, with whom we collaborated for the faithful telling of this story. Please, sip your tea, relax and enjoy Part1!
Her introduction to ''magic''
Let’s jump the stone fence and enter that small yard. Can you pick up the smells? They’re filling the air. Let’s peep through the window. It’s lunchtime. See all those people going up and down, carrying pots and kettles? That’s Filio’s family. And that little girl sitting in the corner chair with her dark curls and green eyes? That’s Filio. Her grandmother Paraskevi is making circles around the table making sure everyone eats their food. Her mom Chrisa, an ambitious cook and talented knitter, is feverishly preparing the dessert. But Filio is serious and contemplative today. She is making plans on the crucial matter of where to play later, with her sister Voula. She wants them to go for another expedition: they left the south part of the field unexplored yesterday. It’s summer, you see. A hot summer in the ‘70s in Greece.
Filio's mother in a field of olive trees.
Grandma Paraskevi is Filio’s favourite relative. She knows all sorts of stuff: about animals, trees, plants and flowers. About things, you can create from what you find around you, or how much water a flower needs to bloom: when it’s too much or too little and what’s the adequate light for it to grow. Paraskevi also knows how to keep clothes bright and clean and how to make the bread soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. When Filio’s throat is sore, she knows how to soothe it, and when Filio comes back home from an afternoon of careless playing, grandma knows how to make the little scratches heal faster.
Filio and her grandmother, Paraskevi.
Filio is also convinced her grandmother is definitely a witch. She caresses her plants with the utmost attentiveness, looking at them closely, talking to them with a sweet, soft voice that makes Filio feel that a mystery is taking place. And they seem to reply, by giving her baskets upon baskets of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, so that the family always has a healthy meal to eat.
A few days ago, Filio also found out that Paraskevi could transform stuff too. Oh yes! It all just came back to Filio's mind now, looking at her grandma once again with curiosity. She was staying over at her grandma's. It was on a chilly evening, just around her bedtime, when Filio entered the bathroom. She was instantly mesmerized by what seemed like millions of aroma particles permeating the air. She inhaled deeply. What was that scent? Filio closed her eyes and just stayed there, delighting in the whirlpools of sweet-smelling moisture dancing around her. She felt content and peaceful. Her grandmother had just had her bath; no wonder then who was the cause of this. Filio went on to curiously ask about it and her grandmother told her it was the scent of olive oil soap. ‘‘You can make it from the olive trees’’, she said and waved to the direction of the fields just outside the window. Filio looked at the olive trees, brightly lit by the full moon and felt baffled. Trees. Leaves. Olives. Soap? She’s a witch. For sure.
Filio's grandmother, Paraskevi.
Filio at the table, looking outside from the window, is still trying to figure out what her grandmother meant the other day. Her thoughts are interrupted by her mom's voice calling her to help with the dessert plates. She has baked her favourite chocolate pie! The little girl claps her hands with joy and rushes to give a hand. The soap-witchcraft-riddle can be solved another day!
To be continued... Read Part 2 here. 04.10.2018 / BY YOTA CELENTI
