Nikos Kolionasios was born to a family of farmers in a small village near the lake of Ioannina. Back in the ’30s in rural Greece, families grew their own food almost literally in their backyard. Pies and pastry sweets were on the menu. The recipes were simple with the exception of baklava. When grand grand mother Maria, a mother of eight,  scraped clean the kitchen table and dusted it with flour, the whole family paid attention. She was about to “open phyllo” for baklava and that meant either a big wedding or Christmas.

Nikos married Xanthi and they moved to Athens in pursuit of a better life. They started a bakery and soon their bread and sweets became a success, but it was their handmade baklava that earned a reputation well beyond their neighbourhood. Nikos knew they had to produce more and better. That called for research, investment and skilled craftsmen they couldn’t find in the country’s capital. 

So they returned to Ioannina and established an atelier where baklava rolls were individually packed in foil and shipped to every corner of Greece.