Our History
underLab began in 1997, in the basement of a family house. Three friends, a few computers, and a lot of curiosity. At the time, graphic design on a computer was still considered experimental, and multimedia CD-ROMs were something most people had only heard about, not used.
The name came naturally. We were working underground, literally, and everything we did was an experiment. Basement meant “under”. Experiments meant “lab”. underLab was not a brand decision. It was an honest description.
The early tools and the first studio
Our main tools were CorelDRAW 5 and Delphi. There were no online tutorials, no forums full of ready answers. Manuals were thick, documentation was incomplete, and for many things we had to write our own small programs just to make the work possible.
We started as an advertising studio. Logos, letterheads, flyers, posters, catalogues. The full range. Design was hands-on and production-focused. You learned quickly that what looks good on screen must also work on paper, in colour, in scale, and under real printing conditions.
This grounding in production stayed with us. Design was never abstract. It had to survive reality.
When the internet arrived in Greece
As the internet slowly arrived in Greece, everything shifted again. Old modems, slow connections, telephone lines that could only be used when nobody else needed them. Nights were long. Downloads ran while everyone slept. Books and documentation were downloaded and read offline because staying connected was expensive and unreliable. Learning meant patience. Trial and error. Understanding how things worked by breaking them.
The first dynamic web application
One of our early turning points came when a company asked us to build a B2B sales tool. Their clients needed to see product availability in storage and upcoming import dates. This was not a static website problem. It required data, logic, and access control. This became our first database-driven dynamic web application. It changed how we thought about the web. From that moment on, websites were no longer pages. They were systems.
CD-ROMs, content, and early management systems
At the same time, CD-ROM projects became more common. Content grew. Managing it manually became impossible. So we built our own content management tools, again out of necessity rather than ambition. Clients wanted control. They wanted to update information without breaking things. This requirement kept coming back, in different forms.
From folders to Stylos
As websites became more complex, many clients needed to manage product lists. One of our early solutions was a simple but powerful idea: a PHP script that could scan a folder, read text files, and automatically generate structured lists. Clients could edit content without touching code. This idea evolved gradually. Structure improved. Design became fully custom. Performance became critical. Over time, this system became Stylos. Stylos was built with a very clear philosophy. No database. Only XML data files. Ultra-fast loading. Full control. Minimal moving parts. At the time, platforms like WordPress and Drupal existed, but they were unstable for our standards. One badly written plugin could break an entire site. We had seen it happen too many times. Stylos avoided that risk.
Growing production and infrastructure
As work expanded, we moved to a new office. We invested in an HP plotter and started large-format printing in-house. This kept design and production tightly connected. What we designed, we printed ourselves. At the same time, our web systems continued to grow, supporting more content, more visitors, and more demanding clients.
Discovering data and Google Ads
In 2007, we attended a Google AdWords seminar in Athens, led by an American instructor. It was a revelation. For the first time, we saw clearly how much data was being collected, and how it could be used to understand behaviour rather than guess intent. We became Google AdWords partners almost immediately. Not because it was fashionable, but because it finally provided measurable feedback. Decisions could be tested. Assumptions could be verified.
Servers, stability, and hard lessons
Another office followed. A 1 Gbit internal network. Ubuntu servers. Full control of infrastructure. We later moved servers to OVH in Grenoble, running on Ubuntu as well. One day, one of those servers caught fire. We didn’t lose data. Daily backups to a second server saved everything. It was a harsh reminder that systems fail, hardware fails, and planning matters more than optimism.
Moving closer to tourism
During this period, we built snd.gr, an online presentation system for sailboat charter companies. This marked a deeper move into tourism. More exposure to seasonal businesses, international visitors, and search-driven decisions. SEO became increasingly important. Not as a trick, but as structure, clarity, and intent. Tourism clients needed visibility, but more importantly, they needed trust.
What this history means today
Everything underLab does today is shaped by this path. Starting small. Building when tools didn’t exist. Understanding systems from the inside. Seeing platforms rise and fall. Watching trends repeat under different names. We learned to value simplicity, speed, and control. We learned that technology should serve business, not impress it. We learned that stability matters more than novelty. This history is not nostalgia. It is context. It explains why we work the way we do, why we are cautious with promises, and why we adapt to new technology without being dazzled by it.
underLab continues to evolve, just as it always has.
the foundation remains the same.