Background/ Dolcotec logo

Dolcotec’s logo was designed by Miranda de Vreugt-Kriek (also known as Amethist) and is based on the beautiful pencil drawing “The legend of Arion” by British artist Ali Bannister.  Her website can be found here.  She made this drawing as a christening present for a little boy called Arion.  The Greek legend on which this drawing is based is called “Arion and the Dolphin”.

As recounted by the Greek historian Herodotus, in the seventh century BC a famous singer from Methymna (Lesbos), named Arion, who was also the best kithara player of his time, traveled to Italy and Sicily.  After making a good fortune there with his musical performances, he chose a sailing crew of Corinthians to return him to the court of king Periander of Corinth.  However, the crew turned out not to be so trustworthy, because when they were out at sea, they forced him to jump overboard so that they could take his money.

As a last wish, Arion convinced them to at least let him sing a final song, and at the stern he performed a beautiful song in honor of Apollo (the Greek god of music, art, poetry and knowledge, who appeared as a dolphin once at the oracle of Delphi).  The song moved many members of the crew, and Arion then jumped into the sea.  According to the legend, the music had attracted a dolphin who came to Arion’s rescue, and allowed him to hold on to his dorsal fin while bringing Arion ashore at Taenarum in the Peloponnese, from where he returned to the court of king Periander.

Ali Bannister in turn based her pencil drawing on the beautiful sculpture “Boy With a Dolphin” (1975) by Sir David Wynne, which can be found in Chelsea, London (and two other casts of the same sculpture can be found in Worchester, Massachusetts, and in Rochester, Minnesota).  She added the musical instrument, the “kithara” or lyre (a predecessor to the present-day guitar) herself.

Sir David Wynne is a well-known sculptor, who has made sculptures of many other animals as well, as well of the British royal family and of the Beatles (he is in fact the one who introduced the Beatles to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1967).  Of his “Boy With a Dolphin” statue, Sir David has said: “the boy is being shown that if you trust the world, the thrills and great happiness are yours... if one meets a dolphin in the sea, he is the genial host, you the honoured guest.”

This is very much in line with Dolcotec’s philosophy and approach towards establishing two-way communication with dolphins.  The dolphin is leading the way, while the human holds on for the ride in this creative journey together.  We feel that a combination of both science and art, as the logo represents so well, are needed to be successful, as well as having fun along the way.  The kithara in the logo also shows the importance of sound and music to achieve our mission of two-way communication.  As such, Arion and the Greek god of art and science, Apollo (as symbolized by the dolphin), are great patrons for Dolcotec.