Our Story

It all started at the College for Applied Arts in Sofia Bulgaria. This is where Antoniy Petkov and Vassil Valtchev started their future careers as master woodcarvers. Both were classmates and graduated in the year 1984. This was still during the cold war. Shortly after that, Antoniy escaped from Bulgaria and ended up immigrating to Austria. There, he established himself as a restorer of wooden objects and designer in the field of interior architecture. For almost 30 years her has been actively involved in major projects related to the restoration and reconstruction of a number of sites of the historical and cultural heritage of Austria. As founder and CEO of an interior design company based in Vienna and leading a team of more than 40 qualified interior architects, designers, project managers for many years, he is actively involved as a designer and project manager in the furnishing and refurnishing of boutiques, shops, restaurants and many hotels in various parts of Europe. His special interest in the decoration of hunting weapons began in the early 90s. Over time his interests in the decoration of hunting equipment deepened and came to the realization of many individual orders.

Vassil Valtchev stayed in Bulgaria, and after the fall of communism, he started his own woodworking company in Sofia Bulgaria. In 1996 he immigrated to the United States. He worked in various woodshops around Los Angeles. In 1999 he started Studio Unique Woodworking in Thousand Oaks, CA.- a company specialized in custom furniture, cabinets, and wood carving.

Vassil is an avid outdoorsman, fisherman, and hunter, but hunting is his passion. His love for hunting led him to become a Hunter Safety Instructor with the California Department of Fish and Game. His deep involvement in hunting continued when he started a local hunting club - California Hunter’s Alliance. Currently, he is also the president of the local bowhunting club - Conejo Valley Bowhunters. The desire to combine the interests of wood carving and hunting and preserving the art of woodcarving led him to the idea of beginning to carve rifle and shotgun stocks with animal and hunting scenes.

Around 2015 Vassil and Antoniy came to the realization that they should combine their efforts. Their wish is for this trend to develop in the future.

Miniature woodcarving as a means of expression provides endless opportunities to recreate extremely emotional hunting scenes balanced and enriched by the presence of filigree ornaments! The plan is, with collaboration from the client, and with a stock provided by the customer to design and carve a custom gunstock tailored to the client’s taste and specific interests. Studio Unique Woodworking’s goal is to provide gunstock carving services for lovers and connoisseurs of exclusive hunting weapons.