1995 I graduated from school.
2001 I graduated from Georg August University with the subjects mathematics and religious education.
My thesis in mathematics has the title 'Evoluten von ebenen algebraischen Kurven und verwandte Begriffe' and was mentored
by Fabrizio Catanese.
2002 I continued my training as a teacher at Wilhelmsgymnasium in Kassel, teaching 11-19 year olds
2003 I was granted a scholarship and started my graduate studies at the university of Leipzig with the supervisiors
Annette Huber-Klawitter
and Matthias Schwarz.
2007 I was granted the title Dr. rer. nat. by the University of Leipzig. My thesis carries the title
'On Functoriality of Homological Mirror Symmetry of Elliptic Curves'.
You may have noted that no bookbinding appeared in the section above. - I am a mainly self taught book binder, and learned what I
know in equal parts through books and reading, and good old trial and error.
Also my knowledge about and attitute toward art ist mainly gained through experiences, not through teachers. For those of you
who are interested in reading about me discovering the book arts, here comes a list of my earlier contacts with arts. -
I have a history of learning things by myself and offsite the usual paths.
For those who rather want to see some pretty pictures, here is the way to the gallery.
I started to write poems almost as soon as I could write. The first poems date back to my second
year in school. Of course they are rather funny to look at than something I would honestly want
to share.
I wrote several (I think I finished 3) novels during my teenage years. But the same is true:
I wouldn't want to share them! I continued to write every now and then, but I don't claim to be a
talented writer. It was and is just a symptom of me trying to express myself. But at that point
I had not yet discovered the book arts and was still on my way.
According to the wishes of my parents I was learning to play the piano for
about 6 years with different teachers whose judgement regarding my talent was contradictory.
At the age of 16 I decided I no longer wanted to go to these lessons. But shortly
after I quit them, I realized that I longed for more muscial and artistic education.
Turning back to what I knew, I enlisted only half a year later for more music lessons and
started to learn to play the clarinette. - And quit these lessons, too, after only half a year.
Then I started to learn to play the guitar on my own.
I managed to get a special agreement with the head of musics school, who believed in my skill:
Every time I got stuck with my self prescibed training schedule, I called him to get a single
lesson from him. This arrangement worked so much better for me than weekly lessons, I am still grateful
for him seeing and suggesting that.
This method has since then been my favorite form of learning: First I want to try things out
by myself until I get stuck. And then I long for someone I can simply ask.
I also played a bit with other instruments, played a bit the harmonica, tried briefly a banjo,
and bought an organ. But I never felt close
to either of these instruments and struck with the guitar.
I tried myself as a composer, too, but never passed the stage of formal composition
to the stage of feeling comfortable and at home with this form of expression.
My main contact with painting was through school. Although my grandfather was a craftsman painter by
education and an artist painter in his heart, he never tried to introduce me into this branch of arts.
As a kid I spend a lot of time in his studio while he was painting, but I don't clearly remember what he did.
I was mainly occupied with hammering nails into wood, and sawing and building things.
My art education at school left me feeling astranged to paintings.
What I was more interested in was sketches and techniqual sketches. And I am trying to revive this interest
and train my sketching skills at the moment.
Books were always important companions in my life, but although I was reading a lot, I didn't spend a thought on where they come from. This changed when I saw in the year 2001 in a children's program how an industrial bindery works. This lead to me binding my first book and then studying book binding more closely. I first started with different methods of case-binding books. And then, in the year 2007, just after finishing my thesis (I felt free of that burden and had more time to spend) I discovered a rich community on the internet. I saw a lot of different styles and books, and made the book "Tauchgang" before I ever saw a tunnel book as my first piece of book art. This form of expression seemed so right to me. And it hasn't loosened its grip on me since then.