Wool manufacturer, Boško Jeremić

Among 244 registered tradesmen shops in 1966, five of them were wool manufacturing shops. That number increased in a couple of following years, but nowadays Boško Jeremić is the only wool manufacturer, not only in the municipality of Gornji Milanovac, but also in the region. He inherited this trade from his parents who did wool manufacturing job until their death. Today, people mostly bring wool from quilts, pillows, and mattresses to be remodeled. There is less wool from sheared sheep. The time when there is most job is autumn and winter. After customers prepare the wool, they bring it to the wool manufacturer (the sheep is first washed, then sheared, following which the wool itself is washed again and dried).  Wool is weighed on the steelyard, and then it is modeled in machines. If the wool is not hand processed first, it is put on a processing machine to be combed and cleaned, after which it goes to the wool carding machine. Wool is then ready for spinning and knitting.

In the past, machines were wooden and were manufactured manually, mostly in Varvarin. Those first machines were called “rigerica”. They were replaced by the industrial machinery of the brand Biltez (most commonly). Both types of machines worked on the same principle, it was just that the industrial ones worked faster. A wool manufacturer is still called “drndar” and “pucar”. We say here that wool is “sorted out”, whereas in Sjenica for example, they say it is “broken down”. Nowadays, modernisation has speeded up these procedures, which has made this trade uneconomical. Today, Boško still does this job to preserve the wool manufacturing trade. However, even though he has a son and a grandson, no one will continue doing this trade after him.