Native of Germany, I was born in 1965 in the Baden-Wüttemberg region bordering on the Rhine. I began my professional life young as a smith doing fancy wrought iron work. My perspectives did not include instrument making until a friend handed me an old double bass which needed repairs. That led me in 1991, to cross the Rhine and join the workshop of Germain Trumpf in Strasbourg. I stayed there for three fruitful years during which Germain introduced me to classical instrument making and passed on to me his passion for the art. I later studied restoration of old instruments with Tom Wilder in Montreal.