Kavala firm unleashes Greek artists on fine silk

"Silk scarves never go out of fashion; they are timeless," Vassiliki Zafiria Ypsilanti tells me over the telephone as I look at samples of her work from my desk in Athens.

Based in Kavala in northern Greece, Mantility aspires to become the first online gallery of scarves made with the techniques of the famed silk producers of Soufli and printed with work by Greek visual and graphic artists, an innovative marriage of tradition and technology.

The businesswoman had worked with numerous graphic designers, designers and architects before she founded Mantility and had observed how they often had to sacrifice their creative drive in order to make ends meet with mundane jobs like designing advertising pamphlets or carrying out home refurbishments.

Wary of seeing her own drive sapped and eager to explore her love of textiles, she came up with the idea of creating a...