January Notes: On Mixing, Matching, and Finding Harmony

January invites adjustment rather than reinvention. It is the moment we return to our homes and reconsider how objects, spaces, and people coexist.

Mix and match in home decoration—often called eclectic style—is not a recent invention, nor an easy one. At its best, it requires discernment. Harmony does not arise from chance; it is the result of selection, proportion, and experience.

The roots of mixing styles can be traced back to antiquity. In ancient Greece and Rome, households displayed objects acquired through travel, exchange, and conquest. The Greek idea of eklektikos—to choose selectively—already implied judgement rather than excess.

Much later, in the Victorian era, eclectic interiors became widespread as global travel and industrial production made diverse objects accessible. Homes turned into personal landscapes, filled with items that carried memory, aspiration, and identity. In the late 20th century, rigid modernist rules were challenged again, and individuality returned to the foreground.

What matters across all these periods is not accumulation, but coherence.

This is where Greek vases—such as high-quality contemporary works by ATTIC BLACK—naturally belong. They do not require a classical interior. Their presence is architectural rather than decorative: they anchor a space, introduce rhythm, and carry quiet authority. Ancient pottery was never meant for isolation; it belonged to houses, daily rituals, and social life.

For me, mix and match extends beyond interiors. It is a philosophy of life. The people closest to me come from different backgrounds, disciplines, ages, and origins. What connects them is authenticity and confidence in who they are. As in a well-composed home, harmony comes not from sameness, but from balance.

At ATTIC BLACK, this approach guides our work—bringing together past and present, scholarship and making, tradition and contemporary life. Mix and match, when done well, is not disorder. It is authorship.

Eleni Aloupi-Siotis

Athens, January 2026