Nayia Kaplanidou was born in Thessaloniki in 1962. After graduating from “Anatolia” American College, she attended the School of Fine Arts in Florence, where she studied painting under the tutelage of Fernando Farulli and preservation of art works. In 1987, she took Master classes in Byzantine Iconography in Heraklion, Crete and since then has concentrated in Iconography.

In 1996, she established the School of Greco-Byzantine Hagiography in Florence where she also taught the art of Iconography. She lived, studied and worked in Florence from 1981 until 2000. Today she lives and works in Thessaloniki.

Many of her icons can be found in Catholic churches in Italy and in private collections in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. She has also worked on the restoration of frescos dating from the Middle Ages in Florence. She has held six solo exhibitions and has participated in several group exhibitions in Italy and Greece.

In her Icon painting, she employs the authentic Byzantine technique using only natural materials (beeswax, Chios mastic, red clay, fish gelatin, egg yolk, powder colors e.t.c.), which she prepares herself.

Her work has recieved many positive reviews by experts, such as Padre Lamberto Crociani and p. Pavlos Politis