MÁTI GREY, Papanikolopoulos’ creative studio, emphasizes a research-led process to support brand development, communications, image, and identity creation.

Katerina Papanikolopoulos is the founder of Athens Design Forum, a non-profit advocating for overlooked and generative design histories interwoven with global labor and migration patterns. ADF’s 2021 inaugural programming shaped 12 events in 7 Athenian neighborhoods, including a ceramic and furniture exhibition of The Alekos Fassianos Estate within the artists’ primary residences and the curation of Units of Infrastructure premiering Theodore Psychoyos’ ‘Butterfly Library’. 

In 2022, ADF launched international programming with ROUTE-IN by Tbilisi-based Rooms Studio and CHTHONIC by Peter Speliopoulos during Milan Design Week 2022. As a cultural partner of Collectible Fair 2022, ADF introduced a retrospective of Palestinian designer Dima Srouji in Brussels, Belgium. ADF’s 2023 ‘Anthropos-Topos’ theme informs how humans coexist with labor at the proxy of design.

Papanikolopoulos’ curatorial programming envisions photography and film as integral, critical methodologies to decipher design’s social role. Inaugural collaborations include Iraqi contemporary video art co-presented with global streaming platform Shasha Movies and the critique of Menelaos Karamaghiolis’ archival film, Gloria Olivae. For Milan Design Week 2023 x Cinema Parentesi, ADF premiered the filmography of Mohamed Khan (El Batikha) and Marta Rodríguez (Chircales). In Fall 2023, ADF presented The Potent Image of Yugantar Collective, a double-screening and accompanying interview with director Deepa Dhanraj, shared for the first time in Greece, and published The Vithoulkas Archive, a prominent photographic archive of Greek furniture restoration from 1945-1970 encapsulating three generations of craftsmen. ADF’s programming has been highlighted in over 24 publications including Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, DOMUS, and Office Magazine. 

Papanikolopoulos holds a BA in Art History (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of California, Los Angeles and builds on engagements with Blum & Poe, Autre Magazine, and The Hammer Museum.

For collaborations or consultations, contact info@matigrey.com