The Tchushkarev family is one of the few families in Bulgaria still weaving authentic Chiprovtsi carpets by hand—and among the few remaining artisans from whom you can commission one for your own home.
When Yordanka Yosifova was born, someone asked her grandfather whether he had a grandson or a granddaughter.
He did not say, “A girl.”
He said, “Tkaia”—a female weaver.
In Chiprovtsi, that answer would have made perfect sense. For generations, carpet weaving was almost a mother tongue: something children absorbed before they had words for how they knew it.
Yordanka’s mother, Ana, spent her life at the loom. Ana’s mother, Krasyana, was a weaver, too. On the other side of the family stands Velika, the mother of Ivan Tchushkarev, who passed the craft to her son and then to the generations that followed.
Today, Yordanka and Ivan, their daughters Yoana and Velika, and their grandchildren Petya and Ivan are all part of Tchushkarcheto, a family business founded in 1998. Its name comes from Ivan Petkov Tchushkarev, known as Tchushkarcheto, who was born in 1888 and whose memory still lives on in the colors, patterns, and conversations that unfold around the loom.
It is a rare craft and an internationally recognized one, too. In 2014, the tradition of making Chiprovtsi carpets was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
At Tchushkarcheto, however, the tradition is not locked away behind glass. It is working. It takes commissions. It experiments with colors. It collaborates with architects and artists. It steps beyond traditional designs without losing sight of where those designs came from.
Yoana Tchushkareva puts it simply. By profession, she is an architect. “By birth,” she says, “I am a carpet weaver.”
If someone wanted to learn the craft, she would tell them: “Start only if you truly want it. Otherwise, the carpet will not want you.”
Her cousin Ivan Tchushkarev Jr. offers advice that sounds less like a weaving lesson and more like a recipe for a good life: “Don’t hesitate. You weave, you sing, you relax—and you create beauty.”
Visitors can see that beauty up close.
Tchushkarcheto has a shop in Sofia, where visitors can view samples, commission carpets, and take hands-on individual workshops. In Chiprovtsi, the family hosts immersive multi-day group workshops that go beyond weaving itself. Participants learn the full process behind a Chiprovtsi carpet—from washing and dyeing wool to working at the loom—gaining a deeper understanding of the craft through direct experience.
Their upcoming four-day workshops, titled See Chiprovtsi Through the Eyes of a Carpet Weaver, will take place on July 2–5 and August 27–30, 2026.
There, visitors can hear the rhythm of the weaving combs, watch yarn absorb color, sit beside a loom, and discover why a Chiprovtsi carpet is much more than a decorative object. It is time made visible. It is family memory. It is a conversation between generations. Sometimes, it is even a song.
To learn more, register for a workshop, or commission a carpet based on one of Tchushkarcheto’s designs or your own, visit: https://www.tchukilim.com/