Chule started apprenticing the weaving craft as a very young boy, helping his father, Nikola, a fourth generation weaver in Bitola, Macedonia. By the age of fifteen, Chule opened his own weaving shop, weaving runners from rags on a loom he built himself.

Chule grew up with three sisters, working very hard to support his family as his father died young.

Chule and Vera married in 1947 with daughter Lidi and son Niko coming soon after that. Vera joined Chule in the shop as soon as the two siblings (4 years apart) grew up a bit. She continued weaving by his side and often managed the entire weaving business by herself.

Life was hard as they started with nothing (mom tells of a story in which they used a heavy coat for bed cover in a very small studio with no heat and stove).

But soon the mastery of the generations of weaving passed down to Chule paid off. Chule moved to a different and bigger shop, build better looms, got spinning machines (for the raw wool he has buying), obtained a huge cauldron for the dyeing of the yarn, and soon he became the well-known master weaver in town. People would come from far for his kilims, flokatis and blankets.

Before long Chule had employees that he trained and taught the trade of not just weaving, but also spinning, carding, dyeing, and selling.

Niko was about five when he ended at the shop getting into the loom and causing more trouble than help. He remembers jumping on bales of raw wool coming out shining and smelling like a lamb. But he remembers mostly winding bobbins for the weavers. He used the home made "bobbin winder" (a wheel from a bicycle and a skein wheel) to make bobbins so tight that the thread would cut through his fingers. He soon learned a lesson to protect those fingers and was rewarded with money for cartoon movies that he watched every Saturday morning at the local theater.

Chule moved to America in 1966 when his business grew so much that he could not afford the huge taxes imposed by the government in order to discourage private businesses. He arrived in Columbus, OH and worked various odd jobs (tailor, cook, snack shop owner) waiting to fulfill his dream of starting his weaving again in the land of the free.

The opportunity came when the whole family moved to California. In 1974 Chule built a loom and a warper and started weaving in a garage. He opened his first weaving shop in San Pedro one year later. He wove beautiful plaid blankets in bright colors that were not very congruous with the pastel decors of the day. But soon he learned to accommodate his customers with custom weavings.

Niko helped selling the blankets with the discovery of art and craft shows in 1976 and joined the family in the weaving business after his graduate studies (he continued with teaching mathematics in addition to weaving) in 1981 when he started weaving and designing new pattern and colors for Chule's blankets.

Soon Lidi, Niko, Chule and Vera became regulars on the art and craft circuit and participated at many of them all over the country for over 30 years. The journey continues today (at much reduced rate)--we sell the blankets almost exclusively at art and craft shows and hope to change that with this web site.

Presently, Chule, 84 years old and in good health, still weaves in the shop, albeit at an easier pace. Niko helps now and then, mostly with attending fun fairs that are for the children. Vera and Lidi have retired from both weaving and fair traveling. We hope the tradition will continue with the new generation.