The highly accomplished printmaker, Hambis Tsaggaris was born in 1947 in the village of Kontea, a village located in the Turkish-occupied northeastern region of Cyprus.

Hambis went to Athens where he took lessons in engraving from Tassos. His studies under Tassos prepared him for six years of graphic art study at the Surikov Institute of Moscow.

In 1995, the printmaker Hambis Tsangaris established the Hambis School of Printmaking. Since its inception, he has taught free printmaking classes.

He illustrated and published many books, some of which are Spanos and the Forty Dragons, The Prince of Venice, Hambis- 25 Years of Engraving, The Fey Enchantress, The Kalikangiari and the Game in 2005, Kalikangiari – Cypriot Tales in 2006 and Kalikangiari – Tales in the Cypriot dialect in 2007.

Hambis participated in numerous exhibitions: the 9th Alexandria Biennale 1972, Commonwealth Exhibition in Brisbane Australia 1982, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th Ljubljana Biennale 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, the Mediterranean Young Creators in Marseille 1985, 2nd Cairo International Biennale 1986, Berlin Intergrafik 1997 and 1990, Bratislava Biennale of Illustration 1988 and 1995, Brisbane EXPO’88 in Australia, Chamalières Triennale of Printmaking in France 2000, Rhodes Mediterranean Triennale of Engraving in 2008

This year the Cypriot printmaker Hambis Tsangaris was honoured with the European Cultural Heritage Award (Europa Nostra Awards 2023)