San Francisco

1984-87

As a child of the Sixties, I held a longing for San Francisco as a coveted destination. I had sold everything I had in Linz and ended up with a ticket and 40k Schilling. In the fall of 1984, I could rent a studio in Berkeley for sublet for several months and was invited teaching a workshop at the ASUC studio (Student Union) of the University of Berkeley. Subsequently, I established my own studio in the Market District of San Francisco next to the Mission, under a contract to develop prototypes for a professional marketer. Tragically, the individual who awarded me the contract passed away in an airplane crash. I then pivoted to offering mold making services in the Bay Area for financial stability, albeit at the cost of stunting my own career development. Nevertheless, it was an interesting time to be there. After 2 1/2 years, I opted to return to Austria, again selling everything I had there and embarking on a half-year backpack journey, with the guidance of the first ever Lonely Planet Guide back that took me through Bali, Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Nepal, and India, exploring ceramic and Buddhist sites along the way. Just before Christmas in 1987, I arrived back in Austria and already early 1988 could I rent apartment and storefront/ studio in Vienna’s 6th district, Webgasse.