ELAFINOS

Moving between fashion, 3D worlds, and storytelling, Elafinos builds from Athens a fluid universe where bodies and environments are in constant transformation. Their work emerges from an intimate experience: “a need to hide, and reshape myself.” What began as a refuge from insecurity creating digital characters and garments as forms of protection has expanded into a hybrid territory where the virtual and the handmade coexist.

From a queer perspective, their practice makes space for what does not fit into fixed labels. Their worlds are inhabited by genderless figures and bodies that blend the human and the animal, challenging traditional boundaries to show that identity is always in process. By combining tools such as Blender and Marvelous Designer with sewing and knitting, Elafinos bridges the digital and the physical to create an ecosystem in which nature and technology evolve together.

Who is “Elafinos,” and what is their origin? How has this figure influenced the construction of your work’s visual identity over time?

Elafinos started as an alter ego, a name and a figure created to exist outside of expectations, rules, and social pressure. In the beginning, it worked as a form of protection. Through masks, oversized shapes, and symbolic details, Elafinos allowed space to hide insecurities while still taking creative risks and experimenting freely.

With time, this alter ego stopped being only defensive and became active. Influenced by a background in engineering and design, as well as video games and pop culture, Elafinos turned into a tool for connecting the digital and the physical. It became a way to build worlds where imagination and reality meet, and where different versions of the self can coexist.

Today, Elafinos is not one fixed character. It is a flexible system that keeps changing. Every garment, body, and environment is another version of the same structure. Together, they reflect an ongoing journey, from a childlike imaginary space to a more complex, fluid understanding of identity.

In your pieces, you blend human and animal traits in a very fluid way. How do you achieve this fusion both technically and theoretically?

In my work, mixing human and animal traits is a way to break fixed ideas about identity. I don’t see the body as something stable or ranked, a space where human and animal qualities exist on the same level and can move into each other. These hybrid figures question binary thinking, especially around gender, and challenge the idea that some traits are more “natural” or more valid than others.

This fusion starts in the digital space. Using 3D modeling and simulation, I create slow, smooth transitions between human and animal forms, without clear borders or sharp separations. Exaggeration is important to my process, pushing shapes and features beyond realism until it’s hard to tell where they come from or what they are supposed to be.

These digital bodies then move into the physical world. Through pattern-making, sewing, and hand-crafted techniques, the virtual forms become garments. Even when they take physical shape, they keep their ambiguity, allowing the body to stay open, shifting, and undefined.

Is there a narrative behind your work? If so, what is it?

Yes, my work is built around a narrative, the creation of an autonomous world shaped by vulnerability, uncertainty, and transformation, rather than idealized perfection. I’m less interested in stories about success or clear resolutions, and more drawn to instability as something necessary for growth and meaning.

This world exists through constant change. Bodies, garments, and environments keep mutating, never staying the same for long. Nothing is fixed or final; movement and transformation are what allow things to exist. Each element follows its own inner logic, creating a world that feels connected but remains open to change, evolution, and reinterpretation.

This imaginary space works both as a place of protection and of freedom. Emotions are not corrected or forced into balance, they are allowed to exist together, even when they contradict each other. In the end, the narrative of my work imagines a world in constant motion, where change is not something to fear, but the core condition of being alive.

How is this narrative articulated across your different pieces and projects?

In my projects, the narrative is not told as a fixed story, but through the process itself. Each piece starts with an idea or an emotion, which then grows into a digital 3D environment. Often, a structure becomes the core figure of this world. From there, I develop the relationships between bodies, garments, and spaces, so that every element feels part of a larger system.

Meaning doesn’t come from a central plot, it emerges through connections between the pieces. Wear, mistakes, and transitions are embraced on purpose, reflecting a world-building logic where change, ambiguity, and fluidity tie different projects together.

In this evolving world, where rules, ethics, and even natural laws are often rewritten, each element, and each viewer, creates their own understanding. The narrative works collectively and personally, inviting people to explore transformations and tensions that show identity and growth are shaped through constant movement, interaction, and reinterpretation, rather than fixed or completed stories.

World-building requires a narrative and an aesthetic that operate transversally in order to generate relationships. How do you define your palette of materials, narrative, and visual language to ensure that different works appear to belong to the same universe?

I define my universe through a consistent visual language, using recurring shapes, color codes, and hybrid traits that act like signals across different works. A key principle is removing binaries. By bringing together things that are usually seen as opposites, I create a shared space where balance and inner logic can grow.

In this world, natural elements, animals, and humans exist alongside technology, which is treated as part of the environment rather than something separate. Cables, digital textures, and artificial forms grow together with rocks, skin, and fabric, letting technology and nature coexist on the same level.

The narrative flows across works through relationships between materials, bodies, and spaces, not a linear story. Each piece can stand on its own, but together they form a layered system where fluidity, coexistence, and equilibrium define the identity of the world as a whole.

You sometimes share references such as manga, video games, or balaclavas inspired by Pokémon. What role does pop culture play in your creative process, and how does it dialogue with your visual imagination? 

Looking back, the most transformative shift in my practice was learning how to combine digital 3D tools with hands-on garment making. Working with Blender and Marvelous Designer allowed me to experiment with form, proportion, and hybrid human–animal bodies in ways that wouldn’t be possible using physical materials alone.

The digital space gives me freedom to test ideas, exaggerate shapes, and explore fluid transitions before anything exists in real life. From there, these virtual bodies are translated into physical garments through pattern-making, sewing, and handcrafted techniques.

This back-and-forth between digital and physical processes has completely reshaped how I work. It allows my imagined worlds to become tangible, while still keeping the ambiguity, softness, and flexibility that define my visual language. The dialogue between simulation and material reality continues to shape both the aesthetics and the core ideas behind my work.

Finally, what are your references? Who or what inspires you visually, musically, or even literarily? What are Elafinos’s favorite artists, albums, series, and so on?

My references come from multiple fields, but I’m especially inspired by women artists who merge music with a strong visual identity, like Björk, early Lady Gaga, and Arca. Their music and aesthetics influence the worlds and characters I create.

A “guilty pleasure” of mine is Grimes, whose blend of sound and visual imagination inspires both the composition and the atmosphere of my work. Favorite albums shaping Elafinos’s universe include Artpop, Vespertine, KiCk i, and Visions. The aesthetic daring, experimentation, and personal expression of these artists act as a compass for the visual and emotional language of my pieces.