Convert Art, Athens

Convert Art is the first upcycling company in Greece and manufactures handmade handbags, jewelery, accessories and other every day use products, made exclusively from used inner tubes, tires, electrical materials and aluminum.

The company began in 2012 when the creator Marina Griponisioti found herself in a car garage. There were many fallen tires there, so she thought to experiment with one of them. She borrowed the garage tools and made her first belt. In the same period, she began to process an old portable speaker, the parts of which turned out as a colorful and fantastic jewel.

This was how it started, by collecting inner tubes, tires and electrical equipment and at present Convert Art has 60 different types of products over 400 different designs.

Convert Art products have been exhibited at various exhibitions and markets:

Papastratos StartUp Awards (2017)

Athens Safary Start Up (2017)

Athens Fashion Trade Show (2016)

Modern Creations (2016)

The Fashion Room service (2015)

Pleiadon Gi (2014 solo exhibition)

Greek Design = Good Design (2013)

Mirtali Art Hotel (solo exhibition 2013)

The Meet Market (2013)

In December 2013, the collection of jewelry made of electrical materials and handmade inner tube bags won an award at the Greek Design = Good Design contest, while in 2016 the Convert Art collection of polymorphic bags was awarded with the Top Design Award for 2016. In December of the same year, Convert Art was selected to participate in the European Final of the StartUp Europe Awards in Brussels.

In December of 2014, Convert Art created a workshop on processing, design and construction. There was also a Convert Art Lab store, where apart from Convert Art products; the company also hosts a large collection of handmade jewelry and accessories from Greeks designers.

In January 2017 the production unit was moved to Athens and Convert Art opened the official store in 24-26 Pallados str, at Psirri Square in the center of Athens.

Up to now, Convert Art has over 35 points of sale in Greece, Cyprus and abroad.

Within the first five years, it has reused more than 20 tons of inner tubes, giving them life again, while protecting the environment from the pollution.