Nikos Kazantzakis Museum Educational Kit

Lazy snail Design has designed a new educational kit for the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum.

Designed for primary, middle and high schools in Greece, as well as Greek schools abroad, the kit seeks to provide teachers and students with an engaging way to explore Kazantzakis’ work, travels and intellectual journey.

The project was conceived as a meeting point between past and present. Designed by Lazy snail Design in collaboration with industrial designer Sophus Bang, the kit translates the spirit of Kazantzakis’ era into a contemporary educational object intended to spark curiosity among students.

Inspired by the way children carried their schoolbooks with a leather belt during the mid-20th century, the kit takes the form of an object that merges the characteristics of a book and a suitcase.

At the heart of the kit is a series of five themed guides, each exploring a different aspect of Kazantzakis’ life and thought: The Writer, The Human, The Cretan, The Traveller, and The Intellectual. Each guide features distinct visual and structural elements, while a colour-coding system helps students navigate the themes in a clear and intuitive way.

The materials of the kit including wood, fabric and paper, were carefully selected to evoke a sense of authenticity and tactility. Combined with replicas of personal objects belonging to Kazantzakis, the kit invites students to explore his world through a tactile and immersive learning experience.

The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, founded in 1983 in Myrtia, Heraklion, is dedicated to preserving and promoting the life and work of the internationally renowned Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957). Best known for novels such as Zorba the Greek (1946), The Greek Passion (1948), Freedom or Death (1950), The Last Temptation of Christ (1951), and the semi-autobiographical Report to Greco (1961), Kazantzakis’ works have been translated and published in more than 50 countries and adapted for theatre, cinema, radio and television.