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people sometimes say that i could draw before i could walk and talk which, to me anyway, is utterly pretentious BS. a fact though is that i must have driven a multitude of school teachers plain mad with the endless array of doodlings that graced the edges of my otherwise criminally underused school- and scrapbooks. ah, the age of biro and pencil and non-mobile phone, kids! what an era to grow up in and set off on my path.

i was born in 1969 on the (then) west german hanseatic city of Lübeck, just west of the inter-german border. lucky chap, i guess – but i digress. my mother is a retired schoolteacher and my father served as an officer in the federal german navy. i have a sis who works as an engineer at daimler benz in stuttgart (must ask her for a personal discount one day) and a bro who is finishing his degree in political studies at bremen uni. i grew up right next to the danish border in flensburg which has probably led me to my appreciation of all things nordic and scandinavian, minus the nazi shit that a lot of fellow countrymen of a lesser form associate. to me it is the perfect enviroment to be a human being and flensburg came pretty close, if only for its excellent brewery! spent nine years of infant hardship there before my father, or rather the powers-that-be that he was attached to by federal oath, deported him and us to the green isle of great britain, where i spent four years of paramount importance to my coming of age.

england has basically taught me everything i needed to know about the arts, life, humour, being a bloke, wearing a school uniform without being ashamed and what not. and not to entirely hate my school teachers! plus a tip of the hat to those people who introduced me to appreciate those quintessentially english rock bands such as marillion, genesis, yes, floyd, erm ... cardiacs that are still with me to this day and stick like an old chewing gum. sounding better, though... anyway, to cut a long story short, finished my A-levels at yeovil college in 1988, returned to a germany that was about to be reunited, spent two years of essentially comical value in the german air force, fell down a well, climbed out again, moved to hamburg to study graphic art, design and communications which led me to my degree in 1995.

i now work as a designer for the music and movie industry and i have literally completed thousands of colourful squares that grace CD-racks and bargain bins worldwide. and rectangles. and circles. and oblongs. i am happily married to the simpsonette on the pic and have two excellently functioning children that are my true pride and joy and make me write bloated and pompous crap such as the above. apologies, folks. ah, yes, i reside in the high moors south of hamburg and happily commute in every day to make sure that the oil industry does not need to take a place in the dole queue any time soon. frightful thought. thanks for reading and for having me and, hey, i haven't used the word “aeroplane” once!