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Coming from a family of textile merchants, Kika Ioannidou’s interest in texture and patterns developed from a very young age. She studied Fashion Design at the University of Manchester and worked in various fashion houses in London before returning to Cyprus in 1986 where she set up the country's first fully‐fledged fashion house. Her work is characterised by her love of texture and patterns, applique and embroidery, and playfully incorporates diverse fabrics. Kika is a keen trekker who last year scaled the peak of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain.
In 2006, the UN Refugee Agency Representation in Cyprus chose a T-shirt design by Kika Ioannidou for its HOPE campaign to highlight the causes that force people to seek refuge in other countries. The T-shirt portrays a person who has had to flee their homeland in fear of their life. The red lines are arms stretching out to help and the three yellow suns represent hope for a future in which they no longer have to flee, but can find safety and rebuild their lives.
In the 21st episode of the #mindpower project, Kika Ioannidou reads Rainis’ aphorism entitled The sun and human love: “'The sun heats the whole world, but captures meteors to heat itself. Human love can only give: it grows warmer by the very act of giving and so is stronger than the sun.”
Kika Ioannidou says that for Greek Cypriots the sun is their whole life – it is intertwined with their culture and gives joy. This is why her collections also often feature motifs of the sun.
Sunny Cyprus. Photo: Jura Podnieka studija
For the Latvian poet Rainis, the sun is also one of his favourite symbols that can convey various meanings. It symbolises life and creative power, the beauty of nature and motherly love, as well as national freedom. Rainis was convinced that every aspect of life should involve movement, development and growth. In this respect, the sun is an ideal symbol as it is in constant movement between day and night.
The #mindpower (#domasspēks in Latvian) project features a collection of 29 short films in which celebrities from all the EU Member States read excerpts from the works of Rainis and Aspazija in their native language. The project is part of the Presidency cultural programme.
Each week a new video is released on the Presidency's website EU2015.LV. You can also watch the episodes on the Presidency's official Youtube channel and on the project's Facebook page.
