How can a passion for role-playing games give you lifelong work? Easily! This is exactly what happened to Bogdan Mihaylov, a crafter from Ukraine. Today we are going to tell you about his workshop as part of our Artisans and Craftsmen People’s Choice Award nominees acquaintance.

It all started in 1992, when Bogdan Mihaylov was interested in historical role-playing games. Such a hobby needs the right costumes corresponding to the era and country. Bogdan often prepared outfits and armor for himself and his team,then this hobby became a profession.

“From 2001, my friends and I had a workshop where we made armor. Later, in 2006, I opened my own workshop, where I crafted leather goods, tailored outfits and much more. Over time, we decided to manufacture only leather products”.

Bogdan understood that HMB athletes need quality items, and his workshop began to produce shoes and accessories for HMB sports. A number of shoe models have been developed specifically for Historical Medieval Battles and tested by a number of fighters.

“If we talk about HMB, the key factor was the durability of goods. HMB does not require the beauty and grace of the product, but nevertheless nobody overlooked the accuracy and aesthetic element. We can say that our work is just that – comfortable, reliable and attractive”.

According to Bogdan, for the entire existence of the workshop, they can have loyal, regular customers from different countries. Representatives of HMB sports from Ukraine, Russia, the USA, Chile, Spain, France, Germany, the UK, Finland, Israel, Mexico are wearing shoes from the “Master BO: BO”.

“We have a huge experience of work and easily find common language with clients. In the course of negotiations, we obtain information sufficient for the production of a product that will exactly correspond to the wishes of the customers and their measurements. We also work remotely with clients. Only here the client himself sends his measurements. If everything is correct, then he gets a convenient and practical item that will delight him for several years”.

Over the years of the workshop’s existence, Bogdan and his team have made thousands of various products. Each is a value for them, as the crafter gives a part of his soul in each item, but they are not going to stop there. According to Bogdan, the craftsmen have many plans and desires; these people cannot be proud of a certain product for a long time. They constantly improve their skills, set new goals for themselves and move to achieve them.

The geography of clients and the longevity of Bogdan Mihaylov’s workshop are really impressive.

The editors of HMBIA News wish prosperity to the workshop team, and exciting new projects. And, of course, good luck in our Artisans and Craftsmen People’s Choice Award for the HMBIA Quality mark.

We remind you that the winner of the competition will be determined thanks to you. We will inform you about the start of voting for the contestants shortly.

In the meantime, we are preparing a new article for you about another nominees of the Artisans and Craftsmen People’s Choice Award competition, and we invite you to remember those wonderful crafters who we have already talked about earlier:

Henrikas Viteika workshop from the UK
Workshop of Anna Muzalevskaya from Russia
Historicum workshop from Poland
Past Time Pedlar workshop from the UK
Ivan Lukic, craftsman from Serbia
Patterson Shieldcraft from the UK
Racaire’s Workshop from the USA
Knight Art Workshop from France
Rogday’s Craft” Yar-Tur workshop from Ukraine
Výroba štítů Workshop from Czech Republic. 
Evil Russians workshop from New Zealand

HMBIA News