Thanasis Kalafatis was born in Sozopol in Eastern Rumelia circa 1900. After the persecutions of 1906, his family was displaced and ended up in Nea Agchialos in Magnesia along with many other inhabitants of Eastern Rumelia. They eventually returned to Sozopol only to leave it permanently after 1924. Thanasis Kalafatis chose to settle and start over in Thessaloniki.
He started working as a travelling salesman, carrying a small case of sundries and novelty items around Thessaloniki, but mainly in the area of Bara. Smart and capable, Thanasis got to meet Chourmouziadis, a well-known Thessaloniki businessman from Pyrgos (Burgas) in Eastern Rumelia. Chourmouziadis appreciated Thanasis’ skills, made him his business partner at his store, and arranged his marriage to his niece, Vasiliki Chourmouziadou, who came from a bourgeois family of Prusa. Thanasis Kalafatis went on to establish a successful textile company under the brand name ‘Kypseli’ which specialised in the production of knitted fabrics. Thanasis and Vasiliki had three children: Dimitris, Iasonas and Erifylli.
Thanasis Kalafatis owned an icon of Agios Athanasios brought over by his family from Sozopol. The icon is signed ‘Them. Diamantopoulos’ and bears the date ‘1866’. Thanasis always had it in his bedroom. When Thanasis’ grandson and namesake was born, the son of Iasonas and Margarita Kalafati (née Almpanis), Thanasis gave the icon to his daughter-in-law who still has it today.
