I have been making historical bows for over 25 years now, and since 2009 my workshop has been in Hamburg. Inspired by other bow makers in the early music scene, I began making historical bows in the mid-1990s alongside my work as a musician.
Music has played a significant role in my life from a very early age. I first started on the viola, and the wonderful experiences I had in the Hanover Youth Symphony Orchestra shaped my future career path and my aspiration to become an orchestral musician. I studied in Hanover and Trossingen, with Emile Cantor, amongst others.
During my studies, I took part in numerous projects with the Young German Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by a trial year with the Wuppertal Opera Orchestra. I found playing in a large symphony orchestra very exciting, but when I attended a course in historically informed performance practice and baroque violin in the 1990s with teachers such as Sigiswald Kuijken and Lucy van Dael, doors opened to entirely different soundscapes. I felt I had finally found my musical home.
I found a wonderful teacher in Lucy van Dael who essentially led me to my second instrument: the baroque violin. At the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague I met other equally enthusiastic baroque musicians from all over the world, and my time there taught me to broaden my horizons beyond Germany. I only had to slightly adjust my career aspiration to that of baroque violinist, a permanent orchestral position was then not possible. Anyway, I found it much more exciting to travel as a freelance musician through Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Italy.
In the meantime, bow-making became my main profession, and my bows take my place travelling the world with many professional musicians.