UNIQUE AND HAND MADE FOR EVERY BRIDE
Uniqueness, quality and elegance are the cornerstones of what we do.
“It is our greatest joy to continue our family legacy. The love of fashion, design and obsession to detail is what drives us.” ~ Frieda Filippeos, Designer
The Filippeos family have been in the wedding business since 1957. It all began when my in-laws Christos and Pipitsa Filippeos immigrated to Toronto from Samos, Greece. It was the year of a great influx of Greek immigration. The outgoing and entrepreneurial couple saw a demand for Greek products and opened the first Greek Corner (Eleniki Gonia) store in Toronto.
Young Greeks were immigrating to Toronto and many arranged marriages were common in the day. As such the wedding business was booming. Pipitsa was the golden hands of the business and she personally planned and organized hundreds of weddings. She made handmade stefana and lambathes for weddings and in time christening items, as newlyweds began to have children.
Although Christos, my father-in-law is no longer with us, Pipitsa at 82 years of age still makes lambathes for family and friends. Her love of music and the creative arts have been passed on to her children and grandchildren.
In 1982 I married Christo’s and Pipitsa’s youngest son Demetrios, we started a family and had two children Christos and Kellene. In 1993, inspired by my mother-in-law, Demetrios and I began hand-crafting stefanothikes and stefana. At the time it was difficult to find beautifully made stefanothikes, so we designed an elegant modern stefanothiki with a beautiful white pearlized Virgin Mary icon and they became a big hit. The business flourished and our stefanothikes sold in retail stores across North America. In short time, our unique designs were copied and massed produced by many sellers of wedding crown cases. Today you will still find my original modern designs sold online and in retail stores around the world.
My goal is to set a new standard in elegant design of traditional wedding crowns, cases and accessories for the modern bride. My creative spirit and love for Greek art, culture and wedding traditions continue and with the help of my family and Alithea by Design was born.
My beautiful daughter Kellene studied fashion at the George Brown Institute of Toronto and her experience in the fashion industry over the last 11 years is proving a valuable addition to the family team and legacy. She brings a “hip” sensibility to the design concepts that appeal to the younger Greeks. Together, our modern stefana designs still honor centuries of tradition. My wonderful husband Demetrios and son Christos meticulously handcraft every stefanothiki and tirelessly source suppliers around the globe to find the quality components that let Kellene and I execute our visions for elegant and modern designs. My sister Stella is no stranger to innovative design. She oversees marketing and manages the website and ecommerce operations.
The challenge and excitement in creating the “latest” is what drives our family to create beautiful wedding items for the New Generation.