History of AKEK starts at the beginning of the 20th century in Crete, in Limena Hersonisou, from the brick manufacturing business of family Kanakaki. The founder Elias Konstantinou Kanakakis was born in 1847 in Krya Vrisi in Rethimno. He learned the art of bronze and travelled to Izmir to refine it. Izmir in the early 20th century was one of the major cities of that era, with great commercial and economic activity and special development in arts and sciences. Elias Kanakakis evolved in his art and have enriched the knowledge of modern productive means of that era. He married there and created a family acquiring 8 children.

 

 

In 1901 returns in Crete with his family and in 1906 starts the first brick-production factory in Limena Hersonissou. In 1916 the oldest son of the family Konstantinos Elia Kanakakis takes over the company, however he “was lost” prematurely, struck from the lead of a pulley of a factory machine.

 

 

In 1920, another son of the family, Andreas Elias Kanakakis undertakes to continue the family tradition. The modern ways of construction replace the traditional way of building with stone and the bricks of Kanakakis family is the basic material for building construction. Andreas Kanakakis expanded the factory, improved production methods and increased the production in order to meet the great demand for products from all over Crete.

 

 

Station in the history of the company is a collaboration of Andreas Kanakakis with Nikolaos Metaxas. In 1946 the family business is converted into S.A. and thus is created AKEK SA. Nikolaos Metaxas takes over the management of the company giving her new impetus. He reorganized and modernized the business, moved her to another room and built a new factory in Limena Hersonisou, which produced mainly ceramic bricks and cement bricks.

 

 

Factory of AKEK in Limena Hersonisou in 1951

 

 

Nikolaos Michael Metaxas was born in Heraklion in 1915 and studied Civil Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. In 1955, Nikolaos Metaxas married Theano – Evangelia Kanakaki and had 5 children.

 

 

 

 

Η AKEK presented a spectacularly ascendant course acquiring a dominant role in the Greek ceramic industry. In 1978 the activities of the company are transferred to the new modern premises, in Industrial Area of Iraklion, total surface 60 acres. The new production methods with a high degree of automation enables AKEK to produce modern products of high quality.

 

 

 

In 1986, the reins of the firm undertakes one of the sons of Nikolaos Metaxas, Michael N. Metaxas. Michael N. Metaxas was born in Heraklion in 1959 and studied Mechanical Engineering at Technical University ETH of Zurich. With new ideas and dynamic AKEK continued her permanently ascendant course in the ceramics industry. In 1989 AKEK makes an enormous for its time investment of 1.5 billion drachmas constructing and equipping a new ultramodern plant that produces floor tile by extrusion (COTTO) and facing bricks. The total area of the facilities of the company now extends to 100 acres.

 

 

In 2000 Michael N. Metaxas collaborates with the Economist Konstantino Ch. Christakos who undertakes Managing Director of AKEK and together they create a powerful team.

 

Today AKEK SA is one of the largest ceramic industries in Greece. Through a course of more than 100 years, the company is constantly evolving, implementing innovative actions and offering high quality products. Capstone of this course is the manufacture of the 5^th factory, in 2011, in the industrial area of Heraklion. The innovative new production unit is equipped with manufacturing capabilities of advanced products such as orthoblok. At the same time it emphasizes at the protection of the environment and the human factor, through "green" production processes.