I love it when talent is harnessed and unleashed, rather than restrained! And so it is with Sasha Bezovski and Marjan Pejoski, who founded a new line of fashion and music boutiques called Kokon To Zai.
In addition to their own labels—KTZ and Marjan Pejoski—Kokon To Zai provides a springboard to both well-known brands and the works of emerging designers.
As you may recall, Marjan rose to fame when Bjork walked down the red carpet at the 2001 Oscars in her infamous “swan dress”—a Marjan Pejoski design!
Marjan Djodjov Pejosk was born 1968 in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, formally part of Yugoslavia—a landlocked country neatly nestled between Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Greece, and Serbia.
Although my history with Macedonia only dates back to the early nineties, Skopje is a fascinating Southeast European city with a 4,000-year history that shares with me a common thread of Roman ancestral heritage.
Before the Romans, however, the region had been incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great, also known as King of Macedon.
Next, an outpost of Rome and then a Roman colony, Scopje (known as Scupi) existed several centuries as part of a Roman province until it was handed over to Byzantine. Hence, today the major religion is Orthodox Christianity.
What many fail to realize is that Slavic tribes entered the Balkan Peninsula later around the 6th century AD. So similar to several surrounding nations, the language of Macedonia is a Slavic language that is written in the Cyrillic alphabet.
I remember the first time I pulled into Skopje. I had taken the ferry from Brindisi, at the heel of Italy, to the port of Patras in Greece. When I drove about Skopje looking for the home of my national distributors, I was amazed at the kaleidoscope of ethnic diversity: Albanians, Roma and Vlach Gypsies, Turks, Serbs, and Bosnians.
Throughout history, Skopje has bestowed on the world many famous people like Byzantine emperor Justinian I, football legend Darko Pančev, and Mother Teresa.
Now, another figure rising to international fame is designer Marjan Pejoski.
