1982

Kouros – I. Tseperkas & Co is founded. The vision of Ioannis Tseperkas, our founder, was to build a sign company that would go beyond than simply manufacturing quality signs; a company that would offer its customers innovative solutions, great customer care and reliable, turnkey services.

1983-1990

The founder’s brother, Aristos Tseperkas, assumes the position of technical director at Kouros. Working out of a small workshop in central Athens, the Tseperkas brothers soon manage to bring Kouros to a dominant position in the Greek signage industry. The company’s competitive advantages are recognized by the market and gradually Kouros’ customer base transitions from small, one-off accounts to nationwide retail networks. Companies such as Hertz, Coca-Cola HBC, Seat, Citibank, SAAB, Chrysler, The Athenian Brewery (local OpCo of the Heineken Group), Credit Bank (now Alpha Bank) entrusted Kouros with their national CI programmes and all of them still remain loyal customers.

1991

Demand is increasing exponentially and Kouros commissions the construction of a new 5.000 sq.m. factory in Athens and expands its activities in Bulgaria by establishing a subsidiary company, Kouros Bulgaria, in Sofia.

1992-1994

In-store marketing gains increasing popularity in the Greek market space and Kouros expands its product portfolio to include merchandising materials, product stands and POS displays. Kouros provides innovative in-store communication solutions for international FMCG brands such as Coca-Cola, Heineken, Amstel, Metaxa, Silk-Cut, Cutty Sark, Ballantines and Marlboro.

New machinery is acquired to allow for the production and installation of larger, more complex structures and prominent fuel retail networks, such as Elinoil, Mamidakis and Elda, are added to our customer base.

1995

Kouros relocates to its current home, a former furniture production facility in a 4.500 sq.m. plot in Avlonas, Attica. Upon its acquisition, Kouros invests in upgrading the factory’s infrastructure and equipping it with new equipment.

1996-2002

As the company keeps growing, the entity’s business structure is changed from a Limited Partnership to Société Anonyme (equivalent to PLC and Corporation status) in 1997. A comprehensive quality management system is developed and in 2000 Kouros becomes the first among its local peers to receive the ISO 9001 certification.

Kouros works on the largest countrywide rebranding programmes for companies such as HSBC, Texaco, Piraeus Bank, Ergobank and Germanos.

2003

In 2003 an important milestone is reached: it is the year that Citigroup awards Kouros with the majority part of its rebranding project for Citibank’s retail network in Southern and Western Europe.

2004-2008

The period during which Kouros goes international.

Subsidiary companies are established in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia in order to implement rebranding projects for the rapidly expanding retail banking sector. With the help of its subsidiaries, Kouros also delivers turnkey nationwide rollouts across Ukraine, FYROM and Albania, as well as Cyprus and Egypt in the South. Our products are also exported to other territories, such as Poland and Austria.

In 2005, Kouros receives the OHSAS 18001 certification for its workplace health and safety management system. The Balkan subsidiaries develop local assembly lines and invest in plots of land for future development.

In 2008, the Kouros logo is redesigned and the international subsidiaries are united under a new brand name: Artius.

2009

A catastrophic fire on May 26th, 2009 completely destroys the Avlonas factory. Within 20 days, Kouros relocates to a leased facility in Athens and in less than 2 months, production resumes. At the same time, part of the production is outsourced to Artius Romania and Artius Bulgaria in order to honor the delivery schedule. Despite this disaster, Kouros is ranked in the 100 most profitable enterprises in Greece for FY 2009.

2010-2011

The production facility in Sofia, Bulgaria receives an equipment upgrade.

Kouros receives the “Strongest Companies in Greece” certificate, that is awarded to the Greek enterprises with the highest credit ratings.

The Avlonas factory is being rebuilt, fitted with the latest in infrastructure technology and equipped with brand-new modern machinery and IT equipment. In December 2010, Kouros returns home.

2012-2015

Kouros further strengthen’s its corporate responsibility profile by increasing actively engaging in numerous CSR initiatives.  In 2014, its environmental management system receives the ISO 14001 certificate and in 2015 Kouros receives a Guinness World Records certificate for its support of the Hellenic Olympic Academy’s record-breaking creation, the world’s largest origami peace dove.

SEV, the federation of the country’s largest industrial enterprises, invites Kouros to become a formal member.

2014 and 2015 are exceptional years for Artius Romania. Eventually, the secondary production facility relocates from Sofia, Bulgaria to Bucharest.

2016-2018

Around the world: from the rainforests of Ghana to the deserts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, from the landlocked countries of Central Europe to the coastal regions of Portugal and Wales, from the European capitals of Madrid and Paris across the island nations of Malta and Cyprus, between 2016-2018, our signs travel around the globe to petrol stations, car dealerships, restaurants and retail shops. And in most cases, our installation teams and trusted partners travel with them to perform the installations and deliver turnkey projects to our customers.