About Me 

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I am over 50 years old, a husband and a grandfather. I grew up in a three-room apartment in Leipzig, where I lived with my parents and my sister until I was almost 18. Then I moved out and tried to shape my own life.

I successfully completed the 10th grade and then trained as a bricklayer. Later, for health reasons, I completed a second vocational training program as a quality specialist for length measurement technology, including 3D measurement technology and quality management.

I was lucky that I inherited good practical skills. I also learned a lot by watching my father. My grandmother tried to teach me how to knit and how to make pictures with fuse beads. I enjoyed working with the beads much more than knitting. I came up with patterns and wrote them down. Then I began using these patterns to weave colorful beads into coasters.

My grandmother showed me everything she knew about it. At that time, I could not have known that this would one day become my profession.

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I went to kindergarten, attended school through the 10th grade and then completed my first vocational training. I would have liked to do something creative—something that would bring joy to people. But people used to say, “A skilled trade is a secure foundation,” so I trained as a bricklayer.

I worked in various construction companies and gained knowledge of many other trades, including painting, drywall construction, roofing and facade construction. But I was never truly happy doing this. Something inside me longed for the dream I had had as a young person.

However, I did not know exactly what I wanted to do to earn a living through creativity. I continued working in construction until the day my intervertebral discs told me, “It is time to do something else.”

My second vocational training, as a quality specialist, followed. After passing my examination, I worked as a metrology technician, always as I had been used to: with complete concentration, total commitment and no regard for my physical or emotional condition.

Then that day came—the day that changed my entire life.

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Something switched my mind into standby mode. Nothing worked anymore. Just a black screen.

On the day my mind shut down, I knew I needed help—and I sought it. The diagnosis was moderate depression.

During my time at a day clinic, I remembered my childhood hobby again during occupational therapy. Since we had to do something there, I asked whether I could use the wooden beads to try something out.

I came up with a pattern and tried to weave it using the wooden beads. It worked, although the result was still far from being a satisfying picture. Nevertheless, this was the beginning of my creative journey.

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More than three years have now passed since my mind went into standby mode. A lot has happened with my hobby during this time.

I now have a range of 37 colors and a company that manufactures my wooden beads. I also put my ideas for displaying a picture made from wooden beads into practice.

I have extensively tested and improved my weaving technique over the years. I enjoy it, and the peace and quiet I feel while working on a picture does me an incredible amount of good.

And now I have done it: I have turned my hobby into a profession. I hope that people will find a picture here that they like and that makes them happy.