Hyper Hypo – Bookstore & Contemporary Visual Culture

At The Aficionados, we appreciate both the highs and the lows of a life well-travelled, especially when it comes to the cultural and subcultural, the luxurious and the approachable. So, imagine our surprise and delight in stumbling across this art and design bookstore – Hyper Hypo – in Athen’s creative neighbourhood of Monastiraki.

Just down the road from the ruins of Hadrian’s library, Hyper Hypo is a bold bookseller and publisher for the next big thinkers.

It’s a meeting of minds for its co-founders: Stathis Mitropoulos, an award-winning graphic designer and art director, and Andreas Kokkinos, a former fashion and design editor at ‘T’ The New York Times Style Magazine, as well as a fashion stylist and collaborator. Their focus is sharply fixed on contemporary visual culture, with a curated selection of local and international books and magazines. The store presents as an exhibition space, with books lined up along Klein blue walls. But here, you are encouraged to touch the works, flicking through what interests you – from photography, architecture and pop culture tomes to architecture, fashion and film pamphlets.

Taking matters into their own hands, some of these materials have been published by the Hyper Hypo team, including Doors of Kypseli by Eleanor Lines, Travelogue: Greek Everyday Solutions to Common Problems, and The Greece Notebook with charming drawings by Michael McGregor.

Hyper Hypo also collaborates on zines, posters and other wares with artists and designers, from Anna Kiosse’s vibrant vase drawings to Studio Nattu’s graphic tote bags and t-shirts that look to be the style of the summer.

A pillar (or perhaps, column) of their community, Hyper Hypo has a packed schedule of events, including talks, readings, screenings, performances, pop-up shops and – sometimes – parties in their basement. Bookish and blithe, this is one storefront you don’t want to merely pass by in a district famed for its connections to literacy, printing and writers – including the aptly named boutique hotel 'Monsieur Didot' in the Kolonaki Quarter, inspired by the printing pioneer Ambroise and publishing Firmin Didot.