If the jewellery craftsmen of ancient Greece were to impress a makers mark on their creations today, it is likely to be a distinctive 'Z'.

In a marriage of myth, culture and contemporary design, Zolotas breath new life into the antiquities of Greece displaying in their pieces an homogenous blend of the ancient and the modern wrought from the simplicity of gold and silver. Perhaps the key to the Zolotos philosophy of design can be found in the titles of the lectures that the company's President and Director General, Maria Papastamou frequently gives: Mythology in the Art of Old and the Affinity between Women and Jewellery. In its own way, a Zolotas creation can bridge the chasm between the mortal and the immortal as images of Danae, Aphrodite and Athena adorn the necks and wrists of modern day muses.

Conjuring the past with a token acquiescence to detail is not an unusual occurrence in design, but Zolotas are unique in that they are the only company permitted to make exact replicas of museum pieces; from general dimensions to the most intricate linear stroke, a privilege afforded them in 1972.

"It was a most difficult authorisation to secure," says Madame Marianne Papalexis, Manager of Zolotas. "We had to be passed by a committee who were concerned about the quality of our reproductions but of course such care is justified because they were protecting Greek history. We secured the right and now we work closely with the Greek Museum.

"We have the legacy of a civilisation that began 3000 years before Christ and that history is so rich and diverse that it gives us the possibility of taking much inspiration from the architecture and the design, through mosaics and through the ancient jewellery. The image of Zolotas has always been one of Greek history starting from the cultural roots. If one travels through Greece now, one will find lion's heads and antiquity styles of jewellery everywhere, but I am proud to say that Zolotas was the first to attempt such a style."

Zolotas was founded towards the end of last century and today is one of the two most revered names in Greek jewellery - the other being Lalaounis whose style encompasses a much broader spectrum and who is in fact related to the Zolotas family. The original Mr. Zolotas was renowned throughout Greece as both talented goldsmith and jeweller and an honest, well respected man. Operating from a small shop in a very old part of Athens, Mr Zolotas developed an exclusive clientele of wealthy Greeks who sustained him as the best name in Greek jewellery although he remained largely unknown on an international scale. Upon his death, Mr Zolotas willed the business to his son, Xeonophon Zolotas whose own exceptional career led him to become the Governor of the Bank of Greece for many years and although well advanced in years he is still the honorary governor today. His activities in both banking and government arenas kept him largely divorced from his father's business and with no children of his own, Xeonophon passed the business over to his niece, Maria Papastamou in 1960. She subsequently listed it as a company and she is today the President and driving force of Zolotas.

Through Ms. Papastamou's foresight and administration Zolotas experienced a renaissance in the 70's that today sees clients from all over the world arrive at the shop on Panepistimou Avenue in Athens to secure a little piece of Greek history for themselves.

"The most important task at hand for Ms Papastamou was to change the real image of Zolotas from the 70s to now," says Madame Papalexis. "We began to work at the image with a team of both Greek and American designers including Ronald McNamer who is now our chief designer and whom we invited because of his very strong contemporary design feel. We wanted to marry an up-to-date look with the ancient because there was a danger that with our strong orientation towards the antiquities we could be looked upon as a museum. We didn't want people to come to Zolotas and say 'What fantastic ancient jewellery: its beautiful but we can't wear it.' We wanted to develop a contemporary look, a practicality, pieces that were easy to wear and not something that you would find hanging in a window at a mortuary.

"Every year we product a new collection in 22 kt gold, 18 kt, 22 kt with hammered aspect which is very Greek and a Zolotas speciality, 18 kt silver and gold and several pieces sporting a few stones. Each collection incorporates between 50-80 new designs which is quite a lot for our business, but we are very aware that jewellery must never be simply fashionable: the pieces must be timeless and always give pleasure to the woman wearing them. It is not right for someone to spend a lot of money on a piece of jewellery that she will not be able to wear the following year, so we must have a contemporary look and feel without catering exclusively to fashion. This was the most important point concerning creation."

Both Ms Papastamou and Madame Papalexis are passionate Grecophiles, the latter inordinately so given that Greece is her adopted country and vastly different in style and culture from her native France. It is a phenomenon with which Ms Papastamou is familiar: she has recognised the country's powerful effect on more than one of her employees.

"I like to have Greek collaborators because they understand the nature of the design," she says. "But I also like to collaborate with certain international people who either have or develop a love for Greece. Let's take Madame Papalexis for example, she is French but she adores Greece. Our main designer, Ronald McNamer with whom we have been working for the past 15 years is American, but also adores Greece. Foreign people have a particular approach to Greek ideas which is extremely interesting and when they come to work here, the results are fascinating. It is a good marriage of national and international: our pieces are like small ambassadors around the world and as such must be designed and executed perfectly and incorporate contemporary design. Other cultures interest us from a general point of view, of course, but we are proudly Greek: we are the only company in the world doing exclusively Greek pieces of Greek origin."

With a background in economics, statistics and banking, echoing to the degree, the education of her uncle Xenophon, it was perhaps an unusual move then for Ms Papastamou to take the helm of the business so paradoxical to their shared experience. Given that women were not frequently found to be heads of large business in Greece 25 years ago, the motivation would have to be too powerful to ignore. The answer is simple and unswervingly acute.

"I love Greece, I love my country and its history," she says." For the last thirty years, I have been studying the history of Greek jewellery and I have come to the conclusion that in its richness and colour, there is still so much more to learn in the field. The sources are so plentiful: Greek culture spread around the world at certain times and as a result, we do not simply search in the immediate area for antiquities to replicate; we dig far into the east where the Scythians were, to the routes of Alexander the Great, to Italy - in short wherever the Greek people have been located during the last 4000 years of Greek civilisation.

"In terms of the difficulty for a woman in business when I began, it was indeed difficult to a certain degree, but I think that it was in the 70s that Greece began to accept the fact that a woman could be the leading member of a company. Irrespective of my experience, I am not a feminist in the theoretical sense: I have my points of view and I try to influence people with these opinions but I am never aggressive. I believe that the sensitivity of a woman can open doors for her more than the other way. My studies and my experience in the commercial world also served as a strong base for me in the jewellery trade,"

Fostering a strong commercial appeal was of course an important element in the revamping of Zolotas, but both women are critical of a purely monetary orientation which they believe is a common characteristic of many jewellers worldwide. At Zolotas, the creative instinct is the most salient commercial aspect.

Even though Ms Papastamou has an essentially commercial background, she also has a great feeling for design, giving priority to the aesthetic rather than to sheer commercial appeal," says Madame Papalexis. "This is something that one does not encounter readily in our line of business. There are people in jewellery all over the world who are concerned merely for the commercial side: they forget the feel of the industry, they are purely logical and look simply at market appeal. They don't try to make people dream or see beyond the average because they are concerned primarily with the investment which, of course is enormous, there is no doubting that: we are dealing after all with gold and silver, not plastic. It can be time-consuming and risky so the hesitancy is understandable. But our privilege is that we give priority to design and we try to make our designs win over the collective public mentality which is not easy these days, but I think that we have succeeded."

For her part, Ms Papastamou is adamant that the essence of a woman's physicality is the springboard for successful creative design. It is a notion curiously reminiscent of the mythologica l ideal of sheer beauty as inspiration and as such the legacy of the Nine Muses has a niche in contemporary Greece.

"I believe that when conceiving a collection, one must first marry the design of the human figure which must be very feminine with the style of the time. Our specifications are delineated by such things as raw materials, the workability of the design and the international appeal which is difficult given that there are different ideas of jewellery at one time . One must study and be able to understand all those variants before realising a collection."

Cultural imperatives and idiosyncrasies aside, there has been a detectable shift away from opulence to simplicity in the tastes of many women according to Zolotas and as such they have had to alter their style minimally to accommodate. Each year they release three collections which could best be described as readily accessible, deluxe and 'Platinum Amex Only.' They work with precious stones only for special collections or customised pieces and given that they include Jacques Cousteau the late Artistole Onassis and the glittering Elizabeth Taylor as treasured clients, perhaps there is indeed a renewed appreciation of simplicity as public statement.

"We have three levels within a collection" explains Madame Papalexis. "We always have three replicas made in the Zolotas image which are immediately recognisable as Zolotas whether they are inexpensive or very costly.

"The first level of replicas are really quite cheap and retail in Athens for US$30 - $500. It is a lovely collection and beneficial for us in two ways in that people can own a Zolotas piece which is a piece of culture and is accessible to everyone and it is also very good public exposure for us.

"The second collection could be defined as being more sporty and made from silver or gold. The pieces are very easy to wear with anything and the are prices from US $500 - $4000.

"The third collection is the prestige collection - haute joaillerie - which is hand-crafted in 22kt and contains beautiful necklaces, parures which are really quite unique in that we make very few of these pieces. They begin at US$4000 and can go to US$30,000 or higher if we are making the piece specifically for a special client or if we use certain stones. Each piece we make from any of the levels is inscribed with a 'Z' which is the trademark seal of Zolotas and on the bigger pieces we can inscribe the full name of the company.

"The fashion throughout Europe has changed considerably in that one will buy less expensive pieces of jewellery which are easier to wear and this is so for two reasons; women are very frightened now to wear huge diamond encrusted pieces and secondly, the fashion dictates that younger women wear smaller jewellery; to be discreet and not show off the money. It is a changing mentality; people wish to spend their money on cars, travel, clothes, technical equipment like computers and videos - items that I would describe as disposable. Jewellery used to be such a must but it is not now. Jewellery has changed to suit today's lifestyle so we began to cater to this six years ago by creating smaller, less expensive, less showy pieces.

"We rarely include stones just for sake of it, we prefer to use the precious metal and in this way it is also easier to cater for the new mentality. We feel that we are much more designer-oriented, more pret-a-porter, but of course we are still at the high end of jewellery."

Zolotas can be credited with a major artistic coup for launching the career of fledgling designer Paloma Picasso in 1971. The 'Designer Collection' is now a tradition at Zolotas occurring every two years but at the exclusion of professional jewellery designers.

'Ms Papastamou instigated this idea in the early 1970s," says Madame Papalexis. "The artist must not however, come from the trade, instead we may use a painter or a sculptor. We gave Paloma Picasso her first experience in jewellery design with our collaborated collection and it was a huge success; a few pieces of which we keep in our small museum with the other special products of which we are very proud. We also worked with a sculptor named Takis who is very well-known in Greece and he was using magnetics. The pieces he created for us were just fantastic.

"At the end of each year we ask a designer to create the good luck symbol for us which has a small medallion as its base, using what he or she would like to promote luck in the new year. It is always a success; we put them in the shop on the 15th of December and by the 25th, there is not one to be found. It is another tradition with us now.

At Zolotas, discretion and the protection of the clients' privacy is the foremost concern. Not even the most concerted amount of gentle persuasion will induce either lady to divulge the jewellery preferences of the notables who regularly come to Zolotas and remain for hours on end chatting and selecting from the glittering wares. "clients become friends," says Ms. Papastamou. "They must trust you," declares Madame Papalexis. "It is part and parcel of our business." And the subject is closed.

But perhaps the finest confirmation of the Zolotas artistry of design and the historical authenticity comes from the sea-faring explorer and long time client Jacques Cousteau.

"Jacques Cousteau came here in 1978 whilst he was exploring the Sea of Cyprus where he found several priceless antiquities. He had a very special reason for coming to Zolotas: to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his wife and himself, he received permission from the Cyprian authorities to send one of the antiquities to us in order to replicate it as a gift for her. It was of course, a fantastic opportunity for us, but it was also extremely difficult because it involved a technique that very few people can perform today," recalls Madame Papalexis.

"In doing this piece, we discovered that we are not really much more advanced than the ancient civilisations: we really did not know where to begin. It was completed after several months of hard work, time and energy and it was my job to deliver the piece to M. Cousteau in Paris. I was extremely nervous, being well aware that M. Cousteau is a very meticulous man and I know that he likes nothing less than perfection. When he put his glasses on to further inspect the piece, I thought I was going to faint, then he said, 'Its perfect. Thank you very much, I am very happy."

Transforming the myth, the mystery and the beauty that is ancient Greece into a synthesis of colour, culture and timelessness, is more a pleasure than a trade at Zolotas. The jewellery evokes not simply the history of Greece, but the land itself. "It is gold, it is light, it is Greece," says Maria Papastamou. And on Olympus, the gods are smiling.