In contrast to many who can evoke a response from others by citing a hundred-year long family tradition, with great-grandfathers who already practised the same craft, I am quite at the outset – in the belief that one day I may become one of these great-grandfathers myself. I was the first in my family to discover the craft of violin making for myself and came to learn and love it. In Klingenthal in the Vogtland region in 2003, I started the education and training which taught me how to work with wood, a living, yet sometimes complicated material of enduring beauty. To be able to shape exactly this very fascinating material into a first-class instrument was not merely a dream of mine; it was my deeply personal ambition. After successfully finishing my training in 2006, I ended up in Lower Saxony, where I acquired a taste for the “big ones” and learned to work with double basses.

Later on came the opportunity for me to work in Munich, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, where I was able to gain a great deal of experience: again and again, I was confronted with new challenges and was in a position to work directly with professors and musicians at colleges and conservatories; all this enabled me to learn the value of deep understanding and taught me an appreciation of honesty and service. Trade fairs in Germany, Italy, China, Denmark and Russia quickly expanded my horizons. Particularly in the area of skilled crafts, I was able to learn a great deal – and also participate in the development of new techniques. Thus it came about that in 2012 I decided to embark on entrepreneurship. And I aim to undertake this not just anywhere, but in my native region, the Erzgebirge. Using tradition, which is already inherent in the craft itself, I will now set up my springboard into a career here.

When it is a matter of building an instrument, speed is not a significant factor, even though any avid musician will only very reluctantly hand over an instrument to someone else. It is much more a question of art, the kind of art, that is, of crafting an instrument which is without equal when it comes to acoustic colour and craftsmanship, and then to be able to repeat this, over and over again. It is therefore a matter of course that the craftsman, by way of gradual but steady progression towards realising this goal, looks for and eventually finds more modern, more efficient avenues which will take him closer and closer to perfecting these skills.

These are paths I do not want to leave unexplored, because it is exactly in places where tradition may be withering a little that younger, new and innovative ideas are beginning to sprout. A great passion I have involves the optimisation of conventional and original methods and procedures and the perfection of all the steps required: It is a process that takes time and in our fast-moving times this is important, because it prevents us from forgetting about quality. Is there any superficiality? There is definitely none. Am I modern? Yes. Concerned with traditions? Yes, at the outset.