Ioanna Papantoniou

She was born in Athens on January 7, 1936.

She studied stage design at the Wimbledon School of Art in London.

She has designed for all the state theatres, as well as the “Proscenium” Theatre of Alexis Solomos, the Art Theatre of Karolos Koun, the Minotis-Paxinou Company and for Michael Elliot at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, UK.

From 1956 to 1966 she carried out in situ research on Greek local costume as a member of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women in Athens, of which she is a major donour.

From the 20th of January, 1957, to the 1st of September, 1966, she was married and known professionally as Nana Stefanaki.

In 1974 she founded the “B. Papantoniou” Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation –now Basil Papantoniou Foundation (BPF)- in memory of her father, which in 1981 won the European Museum of the Year Award.

In 2013 the Foundation was honoured with the Academy of Athens Award for its long term contribution to the promotion of the Hellenic culture.

In 2003, she founded the Greek Costume Society.

She has taught in the Departments of Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Patras and the University of the Peloponnese.

She is an Honorary Doctor of the Department of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and of the School of Art of the University of the Peloponnese.

She has been honoured by the Academy of Athens (1981), with the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of the Hellenic Republic Kostis Stefanopoulos (2000), with the “Panos Aravantinos” Award of the Centre for Study and Research in Greek Theatre (2004), the Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Museum Academy (2013) and with the “Ioannis Capodistrias” Award of Excellence for Sciences, Letters and Arts by the Municipality of Nafplion.