Athens — For over five decades, the Athens-based Onassis Foundation has championed artists and ideas, supporting creative voices in transcending cultural boundaries and reaching new audiences. Across disciplines, geographies, and generations, its mission has remained unwavering: empowering artists to create freely and engage with the world boldly. Today, with fashion evolving into one of the most powerful and immediate forms of culture – a visual language that is both inherently communal and deeply personal – Onassis embarks on a new journey in Athens, Six Rings.
WHAT IS SIX RINGS? In December 2026, the Onassis Foundation launches Six Rings at 99 Patission Boulevard in the heart of Athens, a new cultural-retail experience bringing together emerging and established design talent. More than a store, Six Rings takes the form of a two-story house, open to the public and designed to invite curiosity and discovery, as well as learning through workshops and mentoring initiatives. Here, fashion is never presented in isolation, but as part of a richer cultural narrative, unfolding alongside original works of art from the Onassis Collection, artists’ commissions, and other forms of creative expression. Rooted in the idea that living is layered, Six Rings is guided by the Onassis Foundation’s ethos of openness and exchange, while carrying forward its tradition of bringing diverse creative communities together under one roof – a philosophy embodied by Onassis Stegi (Greek for roof and shelter), the Foundation’s cultural arm. Six Rings takes shape as an urban experience, weaving fashion and culture into the fabric of everyday life. At its core is a curated selection of Greek and international brands. Beyond fashion, the space brings together books, flowers, and other considered pieces through collaborations with independent Athenian boutiques, creating a multisensory environment where the unexpected feels at home. The space’s atmosphere will be further enriched by special commissions and collaborations with artists from the Onassis Foundation’s cultural program, spanning music, dance, theater, visual arts, and digital culture, as well as with Onassis ONX, the Foundation’s global platform for art and advanced technologies, active in Athens and New York.
Afroditi Panagiotakou, Artistic Director of the Onassis Foundation comments:
It is a city chosen by communities of people who refuse to be confined to a single identity, and who are free to express their personalities. Athens lies beyond conventional ideas of beauty. It doesn’t strain to compete with any other European capital, because it still has the power to surprise.
This city has been inhabited for thousands of years, and its scale is measured by excavation rather than square meters. In a neighbourhood where the view takes in both the Parthenon and graffiti, where students from nearby universities fill the streets every day, and where people from all walks of life and many countries run their own small businesses, Six Rings offers its own version of beauty, found in objects, feelings, scents, and textures. It is a place to wander and to cultivate curiosity about what a creative mind can turn into clothing, and about how imagination and talent give meaning to small everyday pleasures.
Stavros Karelis, Head of Fashion at the Onassis Foundation comments:
One of my greatest ambitions as the Head of Fashion at the Onassis Foundation is to create a space where design, creativity, craftsmanship and entrepreneurship come together, a place where people can discover, learn, explore and experience fashion in new and unexpected ways. Throughout my career, I have been passionate about experimental retail concepts, discovering creative talent and building environments that allow a new way of thinking. With Six Rings, we have the opportunity to take this vision further, working alongside the Foundation’s Artistic Director, Afroditi Panagiotakou, to create a retail model where fashion, art and technology intersect, encouraging dialogue, curiosity and new cultural perspectives.In a city that gave birth to the ideals that continue to inspire the world today, Six Rings aspires to become a space where international perspectives meet local talent, and where a new cultural conversation around fashion can emerge, a cultural dialogue that shapes our taste and mindset.
Six Rings will feature the first shop-in-shop of Yohji Yamamoto in Athens, including the LIMI feu collection, and an adidas shop-in-shop featuring Y-3 and all top collaborations such as Grace Wales Bonner, Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Simone Rocha, Willy Chavarria, Grace Ling and Song for the Mute, and will be the first Greek store to currently feature Our Legacy, Martine Rose and Matières Fécales. Six Rings will host a curated archive selection by the iconic Raf Simons brand. It will also feature Carhartt WIP, Maison Crivelli and Matière Première PARFUMS, alongside a selection of PLAY Comme des Garçons, BLACK Comme des Garçons, CDG HOMME, CDG PARFUMS, CDG WALLET and Stüssy, under the Athenian multi-brand retailer No3. Other Athenian businesses that will have shop-in-shops include Hyper Hypo bookshop and the well-known Kopria flower shop. The Greek heritage Parisian brand Pressure will be part of the brand mix, also offering a merchandising selection in partnership with the Onassis Foundation. Finally, Greek fashion brands such as IT’S A SHIRT and Yiorgos Eleftheriades will play a central part in the storytelling, with the latter launching the programme “DIALOGUES curated by Yiorgos Eleftheriades” in partnership with the Onassis Foundation, showcasing the work of emerging Greek designers. Special projects with emerging international brands such as LVMH Prize finalist THEVXLLEY will also become part of the Six Rings experience.
WHY ATHENS? WHY NOW? Local enough to be authentic, yet open enough to speak to the world. A place where fashion, art, and culture can coexist without hierarchy or pretension. A different way of doing retail – one that has the potential to shift the retail landscape and redefine what a fashion retail experience can be. Athens is entering a new creative phase. Though it is a smaller market, its cultural influence is growing, giving it a cultural currency few cities can rival. A popular year-round destination, the city extends beyond its monuments to independent studios, emerging designers, artists, and vibrant neighborhoods reshaping its identity. On Patission Boulevard, within walking distance of the National Archaeological Museum, the Athens University of Economics and Business, and the Athens Polytechnic – historically a symbol of modern democracy – Six Rings stands where several evolving cultural districts meet. Between Kypseli and Omonoia, with views of the Acropolis, it aims to connect local creative communities with international audiences and contribute to the city’s changing landscape.
TIM ETCHELLS AND THE BUILDING The visual identity of Six Rings bears the signature of internationally acclaimed British artist Tim Etchells, whose neon façade and logo engage in a dialogue with the existing neon artwork on the Onassis Stegi building and the ones recently unveiled at Onassis Ready. The Six Rings logo is inspired by the story of Aristotle Onassis’s idea of adding a sixth ring to the Olympic symbol for Olympic Airways. Reimagined by Etchells as an open, evolving form, the ring conveys exchange, movement, and possibility.
DESIGNING A CONTEMPORARY HOME Inside, Greek architect and scenographer Loukas Bakas has realized a contemporary home defined by intimacy, openness, and spontaneity – envisioned as a lived-in, welcoming, and culturally vibrant space rather than a conventional retail environment. Construction and deconstruction are integral to the Six Rings concept, echoing Athens’s layered history and culture, from antiquity to the present, with spaces and structures continuously evolving, layers being added or stripped away, and new possibilities always taking shape.
MATALA ARCADE Six Rings is part of the wider Matala Arcade, a historic complex in the center of Athens currently being renovated by the Onassis Foundation. Alongside Six Rings, the complex will welcome an all-day food and drink concept by the acclaimed Wine is Fine team, while STEGI.RADIO will create custom soundscapes for the space, bringing fashion, art, music, and hospitality into conversation.
THE PETRIDIS COLLECTION Later in 2027 the Onassis Foundation will launch the Petridis Collection – the vast record collection of internationally renowned radio producer Giannis Petridis – open on the floor above Six Rings. The Petridis Collection will house state-of-the-art listening spaces and feature a program of curated events and experiences centred on music.
FASHION BOTH AS BUSINESS AND AS CULTURAL PRACTICE Embracing fashion as both a cultural force and a dynamic business sector, Six Rings aims to support the commercial success of designers and brands, offering a platform for growth and international exposure. As part of the Onassis Foundation’s business activities, the initiative reflects a founding principle established by Aristotle Onassis: that entrepreneurship and public benefit go hand in hand, with 40% of the Onassis Group’s annual profits allocated to supporting the Foundation’s work across culture, education, and health.
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTIC RESEARCH & RESIDENCY PROGRAM AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESIGNERS In a new initiative, the Onassis Foundation and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, are collaborating on their first-ever fashion residency, which will bring fashion students to Athens through the Onassis AiR (Artists-in-Residence) program from 2027. Over the past six years, Onassis AiR has welcomed artists, curators, writers, and researchers from around the world. The inclusion of fashion reflects a core belief that fashion is one of the most immediate and influential forms of culture. Works created during the residencies will later be presented at Six Rings.
