Crafts are something that keeps the tourism alive in Macedonia. If you want someone to tell you the tradition and the history of the Macedonian people then talk to a tour guide, and if you want to touch and feel the tradition, then visit a craft workshop.

Crafts are still nurtured in Macedonia. So far we have told many stories of people handing over their tools to the younger generations in order to continue the story where it was left off. We told you a lot of stories about young people who are the future of handicrafts in Macedonia, and which are of particular importance to us, because they will maintain the soul of tourism in the future.  Today’s story also comes from the beautiful Ohrid, it is the story of Grandpa Milan, who has dedicated his whole life to making leather products.

Whoever you ask in Ohrid about Grandpa Milan, everyone will tell you that they know him. Riste Dimitrovski told us the story of Grandpa Milan, the man that everyone in the city knows, the man who has been making leather products for years.

Grandpa Milan is 95 years old, both in his youth and now with the same enthusiasm and the same love he works and makes leather products in his workshop located in the old Ohrid Bazaar. There is no one in the city who does not know grandpa Milan and as many say, he is a faithful guardian of the priceless value of the Ohrid handicrafts.

 

On the shelves and walls in his workshop, that now resembles like those in Florence, you can see various leather products, handmade slippers, bags, belts and souvenirs.

Grandpa Milan makes them carefully and with a lot of love and dedication. He dedicates his whole life to the quality and pays the most of attention to all the small details.

There are a lot of handicraft shops in Ohrid that work for decades and whose main goal is to preserve the cultural heritage and to develop the cultural tourism and the cultural values of Macedonia.