Ornamentation is as old as mankind. However, as a professional activity, the manufacture of jewelry originates from the later period of the human development. Goldsmiths have been highly gifted and inventive artisans from time immemorial. The archaeological findings of the Macedonian soil to a great extent testify to their considerable skill. A lot of these findings are kept in the showcases of our museums as well as in foreign institutions.
Most often goldsmith’s trade was hereditary; it was passed on from generation. For example, the Vangel Dereban is the sixth generation of the goldsmith’s family Struga, the Dereban family (Gjore, Mitre, Igno, Petrush, Aleksandar and Vangel; his brothers, Lambe and Nikola). The other branch of the Dereban family gave the following goldsmiths: Mile, Yone, Duke and Slave). The same happened in the other goldsmith’s centers.
The goldsmith’s trade in North Macedonia flourished in the Middle Ages and reached its climax in the XVIII century and in the first half of the XIX century. In that time the biggest goldsmith’s centers were Struga, Ohrid, Bitola, Salonica, Kostur, Voden, Seres, Drama, Kavala, Skopje, Prilep, Krushevo, etc. The most distinguished goldsmiths protected their items with a seal. The Macedonian goldsmith’s items were highly esteemed in North Macedonia and abroad.
Jewelry is worn as a symbol, ornament and for apotropaic purposes. Jewelry is made of precious metals, but also of other metals and its division is usually done according to its purpose and the parts of the body on which it is worn – head, neck, arms, clothes. Jewelry as an ornament is often decorated with rare / precious stones. Jewelry also includes jewelry for the household and the Church. Although most of them are used to satisfy various needs, they are also a decoration of the home, of the Church. Such works belong to the works of Macedonian art.
Vangel Dereban was born in Struga in 1920. Vangel was filigree apprentice from an early age. Although a great connoisseur of the craft, Vangel Dereban had a painstaking journey to a master’s degree. He is the sixth generation of filigree masters of the Dereban family. Derebanovci had been dealing with filigree for several centuries, and Vangel Dereban has a written document for that dating from 1819.
Vangel Dereban celebrated the Macedonian filigree and jewelry worn by prominent world figures, including Danish Princess Margaret II and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The silver butterfly known for the TV spot “Buy Macedonian products” which is kept in the National Museum of North Macedonia was made by his father Aleksandar.
National symbols are embedded in Deraban’s filigree and the primordial veins of the Macedonian ancient civilization pulsate in it. He is a synonym of the Macedonian filigree and in his shop breathe the Ohrid and Macedonian blacksmithing from Turkish times until today.
Dereban’s works with their top filigree mastery reflect the specificity of the Macedonian culture and tradition. Vangel Dereban was the winner of the highest municipal award, the St. Clement Award. He was also the author of two books “Bitola, the city of my youth” and “Macedonian jewelry”.
Vangel Dereban died at the age of 93 in 2013 in Ohrid.
In 2021, on the 101st birthday of Vangel Dereban, his shop in the old bazaar in Ohrid was renovated, where the first school for filigree in Ohrid was opened, along with the Museum of Vangel Dereban where all the objects that are family heritage of Dereban family are displayed, as well as his personal jewelry and various silverware.
