Why did you choose wax as your main working material?

Wax is a living being. The one with a gentle nature and a genuine sense of freedom.
You can not tell it what to do or force it to behave in any particular way.
Its power is in its fragility. As a co-creator, you must become one with the material, feeling its impulses and needs, and be completely present with the process. One distracting thought or a careless movement - you’ve lost it. The piece is slipping away under your fingers.
So, it keeps you in a state of alert presence. The feeling is mesmerising.
In this sense me and wax - we are true soulmates. I’m not sure, I chose it. Someday it just chose me...

How does a new piece come to life, and how much time passes from the moment the idea is born until you realise it's time to create?

I would describe it all in one word. A Mystery. For the origin of a mystery is being unpredictable. After a decade of artistic practice, I still do not know, when or how the next piece is coming or what message it is carrying within. Some works take several years to mature, revealing themselves piece by piece - a long game of patience and trust. Some pieces just burst into my day. It’s like a wild impulse. There is no time for any contemplation or planning. Those want to be crafted immediately. So, you see, it can get really intense. /laughs/

What is the process of creating your pieces like? What do you feel during the process - your emotions, tactile sensations?

There are three keys to describe the process. Respect. Trust. And Joy.
Respect the material and give it all the necessary support throughout the process. Trust that the piece will show you what it needs to take its genuine form.
And enjoy the process.

Do you create your works while listening to music?

Quite often. Especially by the pieces that require long phases of repetitive preparatory work. For example for my object series HEIM, I’ve produced over 10.000 wire-spiders, each of them a unique hand-crafted sculptural object.
So yes. Music, but also its equally important companion - silence - are two essential elements framing the creative process.

Name your five favourite music tracks

At the moment they are:

• “День радости” Аквариум

• “Небо Лондона” Земфира

• “Imagine” John Lenon

• Norma, Act I, Scene 1: Air de Norma "Casta Diva" (Arr. for Piano & Viola), Antoine

  Tamestit, Cédric Tiberghien

• The songs of the Forest, while climbing the 1600 steps of the Himmelsleiter

  (Stairway to Heaven) on the Königsstuhl Mountain above Heidelberg.