Spain is in Athens Vol. 2: The Value of Design in Hospitality

The second edition of Spain is in Athens took place at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street, under the thematic title The Value of Design in Hospitality. The event forms part of Spain is in, ICEX’s international campaign for the promotion of Spanish design abroad.

Following an invitation by the Embassy of Spain in Athens and ICEX, ek magazine undertook, for the second consecutive year, the overall curation and production of the event in Greece. This included shaping the event program, selecting the theme and venue, and coordinating the participation of companies, speakers, industry professionals and invited guests.

Spain is in Athens Vol. 2 was held as a closed, invitation-only event, bringing together selected representatives from the fields of architecture, design, hospitality and real estate development. The evening highlighted the ways in which design moves from concept to the realized hospitality experience.

The event opened with a welcome address by the Ambassador of Spain, H.E. Jorge Domecq, followed by a keynote lecture by Spanish designer Héctor Serrano, who approached design as a tool for creating emotional connections, clarity, usability and surprise.

The keynote was followed by the panel discussion “From Design to Delivery: How does design actually translate into a built hospitality project?”, moderated by Stavros Martinos from ek magazine. The panel featured Dimitris Karampatakis, Lead Architect at K-Studio; Evgenios Vassilikos, President of the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association; Penny Zaglaridou, Co-Founder of Wealthia Hospitality; and Panagiotis Kapetanakos, Chief Asset Management Officer at Dimand S.A.

The discussion approached hotel design not as image or decoration, but as a complex process shaped by architecture, investment planning, operations, construction, maintenance, brand identity and the long-term value of the project.

Following the panel, the participating companies — Actiu, Agora Fabrics, Bathco, Gandiablasco, Hisbalit, Ondarreta, Oset and Punt — presented solutions for hotels, contract projects and interiors, ranging from furniture, fabrics and outdoor equipment to bathroom products, mosaics, ceramic surfaces and bespoke applications. The evening continued and concluded with networking, visits to the stands, finger food and wine.

Spain is in Athens serves as a platform for dialogue and networking, bringing leading Spanish design companies into contact with the Greek architecture, hospitality and construction markets, while highlighting the potential for collaboration between the two countries.