The birthplace of Khokhloma is widely credited to be the town of Semyonov, in the Nizhni Novogorod region, a little over 300 miles northeast of Moscow. It is still one of the main producers of Khokhloma today.
Legend has it that the craft was invented by a clandestine icon painter, who lived deep within the forests which surrounded the Kerzhenets River. The painter, a member of a group of “Old Believers” who inhabited the area, broke from the Russian Orthodox church in the middle of the 17th century. The painter learned of a band of men who were coming to forcefully bring him back to Moscow to answer for his dissension, the craftsman quickly gave away his brushes, and told the members of his village the secrets of the art of Khokhloma. The legend then says that the man burned down his house, and was killed in the blaze, but throughout the night the red fire cast a golden auroa against the black night sky, and no one would soon forget the colors associated with the art of Khokhloma.