For New York-born literary agent Elizabeth Byng and Canadian entrepreneur Craig Cohon, building a holiday house was a significant step: though the couple had been together for close to nine years, they had not yet shared a house. Kairos was a way of making a permanent commitment to each other. 

“The whole design was centered around the idea of the house as a meeting place,” says Cohon. Byng agrees. “We don’t have a child together so this is our joint creation and a place where we can gather our friends and all of the different parts of our family,” she says. 

With children from previous relationships aged between 13 and 26, and split between London and New York, convening loved ones can be a logistical challenge. “But when it works, it’s magical,” says Cohon. Byng and Cohon chose the Cycladic island of Antiparos after visiting a friend who had set up home there. They settled on a spot on the cooler, eastern side of the island and passed on their brief to London-based Studio Seilern Architects. In 2021 builders began work on the home, which was completed last summer. “Watching our children’s faces when we showed them our place for the first time was a beautiful experience,” says Cohon.

The main house sits atop a steep hill overlooking the Aegean islands. As the sun arcs into the clear sky, the building’s white limewash is reflected in the still pool water as boats drift by on the sea below. Two guesthouses set into the hillside, camouflaged with cracked brown stones, provide five extra bedrooms. “In the morning, you can hear the sounds of the buzzing bees and the wind blowing in the grasses,” says Cohon. “The colours here are soothing and calm. There’s a herb garden, as well as fig and olive trees.” 

Cohon and Byng’s intention was to make the most of the views; to that end, there are three terraces that connect to the top floor of the main house and they also created a path that winds its way to the top of the hill. The atmosphere here is Byng’s favourite aspect of Kairos. “For me, the most luxurious thing about this place is the headspace that it puts me in,” she says. 

The couple tell Monocle that one of their priorities was to keep the build of the house – and its contents – as local as possible. The ceramics were sourced from a potter working on a mountain on the island and the marble that was used to make the dining-room table was extracted from a quarry on nearby Paros. A carpenter from the area was engaged to construct some of the furniture, including the mobile bar used for entertaining guests. “We didn’t hire an interior designer,” says Byng. “So it was a learning process. The idea was to blend a contemporary feel with the island’s airy Mediterranean sensibility.” Cohon attributes the beauty of Kairos to the intuitive knowledge brought by the craftspeople who worked on it. “If you go for the local option, you end up with builders who understand the place that they are working in.” 

One of the couple’s most cherished features of the property is the built-in amphitheatre, which they use to stage spontaneous performances with family and friends. “We are in Greece, the natural forum for conversation, debate and philosophy, so it was fitting,” says Byng. Describing the creative atmosphere that it inspires, Cohon tells us about a particular summer evening. “There were 14 of us and we were putting on theatrical shows with lights, music, props and staging, and suddenly there was a peal of thunder,” he says. “Soft rain started falling and it was just magical.” 

For anyone who might be considering embarking on a similar project, Cohon and Byng have some important advice. “Make sure that you create a thorough brief and really think through how you would like to spend time in the space,” says Cohon. “And hire an architect who really understands and responds to the brief. Go local when it comes to the construction, then step back. Don’t try to control the process.”