Fairfield woman sells handmade rugs

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield resident Stacey Kitakis is passionate about supporting international artisans.

Locals may know her best as the founder of Fairfield Art Walk, but Kitakis has taken on many other roles, too, such as directing the nonprofit ArtLife Society, a catalyst for international projects.

Kitakis is of Greek heritage, and that country holds a special place in her heart. When Syrian refugees starting arriving on the shores of Greece in large numbers in 2015, Kitakis organized relief efforts to help the new arrivals and the native Greeks through the Lesvos Refugee Project.

Kitakis made seven trips to Greece during the following four years. She volunteered at refugee camps on the island of Lesvos and in a pair of camps north of Athens, helping pregnant women get medical care and finding school supplies for young children.

To fund her travels, Kitakis found a way to help the local Greek artisans by purchasing ceramics from them and reselling them in the United States.

Though Kitakis has not returned to Greece in three years, her passionate for the country and its artisans still burns brightly. Though the surge of refugees has died down, other challenges remain. According to an article in Reuters from November 2021, Greece is the most indebted economy in the eurozone, and its large debt has been accompanied by a severe recession.

Kitakis said some Greeks have responded to the bad economy by selling family heirlooms. Kitakis became acquainted with a man from Athens who is purchasing these heirlooms, especially rugs. Kitakis was interested in purchasing the carpets and weavings and reselling them in the United States. During the past year, Kitakis has sold about handmade 250 rugs from Greece and 13 other countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. Some are 200 years old and “belong in a museum,” Kitakis said.

All of the rugs Kitakis sells use natural dyes. For instance, red-stained fabric comes from pomegranates or mulberries. Other sources of dye include food, flowers and minerals. Kitakis mentioned that the island of Crete is known for producing especially bright rugs because of its bright flowers.

A number of the rugs are from the Caucasus Mountain range in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Kitakis said one neat thing people may not know is that a sheep’s diet affects the softness of their wool, and sheep that graze high in the mountains have softer wool than those in low-lying areas.

Kitakis has made a showroom for the rugs, pillow covers and embroidery on the north side of the Roth & Norton Family Dentistry building at the corner of North B Street and East Hempstead Avenue in Fairfield. Kitakis opens the showroom by appointment only, and she can be reached at 641-919-8155 or via email at Stacey.kitakis@gmail.com.

“I’m not trying to run a retail business,” Kitakis said. “I just love supporting the technique of handmade rugs.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com