My teacher was Bosnian luthier Mirko Vukeljić. He taught me for about two years and in the meantime we became good friends. Mirko’s other two students with whom he worked at the same time, unfortunately didn’t continue with the craft.

My day job takes up a lot of my time, but I spend all my free time in my atelier. There are days, of course, when I’m not in the mood for it and I don’t do anything for a couple of days, but I spend most of the day working on making violins, when I can.

Unfortunately not, but I will be retiring soon and I hope to be able to pass on what I learned to someone younger. Mirko has motivated me to teach someone else what he showed me so that the tradition of violin making continues.

It takes a lot of time to make an instrument and it requires precision and discipline. In the nine years that I have been practising, I have made four violas and twelve violins. But when you finish working and look at what you have created with your hands, the joy is indescribable.