To claim the beauty of nature as my achievement is not for me. It is its own, stand-alone, absolute value. As an artist, I did not create the tree in all its uniqueness. I have the privilege of being inspired by him. I am socialized in the German foothills of the Alps, know how the forests sound and smell and what fairy tales should have taken place in them.
So I consider the demand in this country for ever rarer, even more exotic woods to be an artistic and cultural indictment. I create from what is naturally available to me, like all pre-globalization generations.
The trees that I process come from a radius of max. 50 kilometers. Some old trees, 100, sometimes 200 years old. These trees are felled for various reasons, because they have reached the end of their life span, or are in the way, or purely for forestry reasons. Often these trees, because they do not fit into a commercial scheme, are simply shredded or otherwise processed into fuel. Trees under whose shade generations grew up and nobody knows what to do with them.
In the vast majority of cases, I know the origin of the tree to the nearest meter. Often the trees can still be seen standing on Google Maps. I give these coordinates in the title as well as on the bottom of my work. As an appreciation and show of respect for living beings, without whom my country would not be my country.