Do you remember the story about the Little Prince who learned from the fox that tame means to establish ties. To me you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand little boys. And I have no need of you. To you I am noting more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes and you have no need for me. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in the entire world. To you I shall be unique in all the world, the fox told the little Prince in the popular novel by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. The founder of the children’s wooden bicycles Fox (Lisitchka) Chavdar Chotov read many times that popular book. Chavdar who is now thirty five told Radio Bulgaria that every time he visits a foreign country he buys the Little Prince, so he can have the book in different languages.

Chavdar Chotov is a typical representative of the young generation people who do not complain with the situation in this country, but are constantly looking for new opportunities and their ideas help them make many new friends and followers. When he was still a young boy he had a dream that one day he would be able to open his own workshop for beautiful and original hand-made items. He invented the shape and the construction of the wooden Fox (Lisitchka) bicycles on his own. These bicycles are designed for children aged six or under. Chavdar’s bicycles are beautiful and entertaining, but also help little children develop a sense of stability and balance.

I completed my Lisitchka (Fox) project in 2015 when I established my own workshop where 80% of the bicycles are hand-made, Chavdar Chotov says and adds:

I developed the first Fox bicycle in home conditions. Later, the model went under a series of changes. I made a lot of modifications and the bicycle is still subject to changes. It is a bit difficult to make a living with hand-made items, because on one hand productivity is lower and on the other hand the prices of these items are more or less based on the market principles. Thus, we are witnessing a slight rift between the physical possibilities for production and the final price, which is higher than the factory-made toys. This price is worth the quality of the product and the efforts. Currently, we have two options- to keep hand-made production and work something else, or choose mass production like many other people do. Mass production guarantees a high volume of items, but in this case we can no longer speak of individuality of our products.

I have been trying for almost two years to gather the appropriate people in my team, in order to preserve the individuality of each wooden bicycle or in the worst case scenario to make these items in small series, in order to increase labor productivity a little. The difficulties are not due to our geographic location, but are rather connected with the low productivity of such items. In my view, this type of activity is impossible in other more-developed countries, simply because labor productivity is very low. You need to make a lot of investments to shift to a mass production- you must spend money on the necessary technical equipment, make a strong team and have a successful marketing strategy. This is a very slow and difficult process.

Chavdar Chotov believes that his Fox bicycle makes children and their parents go more often to the park or in the nature and choose a healthier way to spend their spare time, rather than sit in front of the computer at home.

I changed many jobs and studied different things. I graduated a foreign language school and later studied international economics at the university. I also graduated Indian Studies at the Sofia University Saint Kliment Ohridski. I worked as a salesman and as ski instructor. Currently, I am writing programs for woodworking machines with computer control. I am constantly trying to develop in various fields. I believe that people should travel a lot and learn constantly. I hope that with the help of friends I will be able to make my product accessible to more people on the Internet. We are also planning to make toys that will develop the motor culture of the children.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov