Tokdil Ersoy, born in 1939, was a goatherd until the age of fourteen in the village of Horzum-Alayaka in Kavaklıdere town of Manisa. When his father bought a mill, he started to do milling afterwards. In 1959, he started fulfilling his military service and he worked as the head of a carpentry atelier in a military unit for two months. Then he was appointed as a driver. After his military service, Ersoy decided to quit the milling job as he could not earn enough and focus on woodworks he had been busy with for two months at the military. In 1965, when he had three children, he bought the land where the present workshop is located and built a flimsy workshop and a room next to it. Thinking that it would be difficult to manage on his own, he took two more partners with him. But within three years, the partners drew apart and he took over the workshop with the debts. At the age of 28, he learned this profession by trial and error. In time, he made additions to the house and the workshop, turning the workshop to what it is today. At one stage, he received an offer from Gölcük Shipyards as a carpenter but he could not go there. He spent his whole life here, started to carve wood to make toys for his children, and then became interested in bağlama making. He attributes his children’s preference of departments such as painting and sculpture to their growth around this workshop.