The legendary tradition begun in 1924 when his grand father, Agop, emigrated from Turkey and opened the first shop in Piraeus (the Mother City of the rebetiko music). In 196O his son Onnik (Karolos’s father) moved to his own store in downtown Athens, building instruments for the great bouzouki players like Manolis Chiotis, Lemonopoulos, Giannis Tatassopoulos, Lakis Karnezis, Giannis Stamatiou (Sporos), Bebis Staergiou, Giannis Angelou and others. He was also the recipient of the gold medal of master craftsmanship in the International Expo in Thessaloniki in 1965.
