Ioanna Papantoniou is a Greek author, scenic designer, costume designer and folklorist.
Background
Papantoniou was born in Athens in 1936. Her father was Vasilios Papantoniou, one of Kyknos Canning Company while her mother was descendant of a wealthy family. During the Axis occupation of Greece she lived with her family in Athens under difficult circumstances while her father was killed during Dekemvriana.
Education
During the 1950s she studied in a Finishing school in United Kingdom and later she got married at the age of 20 but she divorced in 1966. After that, she returned to United Kingdom where she studied scenic and costume design at Wimbledon College of Artist
Career
Work Since 1971 Papantioniou made a notable professional career as a scenic and costume designer working along with Michael Elliott, Karolos Koun, Alexis Minotis, Katina Paxinou et cetera She was the first female scenic designer of the National Theatre of Greece and Epidaurus" theatre. From 1992 until 1996 Papantoniou was professor at the universities of Athens and Peloponnese.
From 1956 until the 1980s Papantoniou carried an extensive fieldwork throughout Greece, Cyprus and the Griko communities of Italy, gathering data and documents about the traditional culture, music and dance and also about the preindustrial technology and the old fashioned children games.
Ioanna Papantoniou is also the author of several publications about the Greek local costumes and fashion. Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation In 1974 she founded the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, a nonprofit cultural institution and museum based in Nafplion, in memory of her father Vasilios Papantoniou.
Foreign the needs of the institution, she donated to PFF almost her entire property, including her personal folklore collection.