Roman Bartoš

* 1960

  • "Then I rented an industrial building where I lived, and I could work on my own. That kept me in touch with the people who wanted me to work for them. Again, for different people, but they specialized me in staircases. So, for skyscrapers and law offices, we made atypical handrails. I didn't design anything. I followed the drawings, but I had to work with all the machinery, reinforced concrete, and all the companies that were involved. I had four employees. So I'd come in at noon from a meeting, change my clothes and work maybe into the night. Seven days a week. All the time."

  • "Then they put me on a train and told me to get out, and if I came back, they would deport me to the Czech Republic, which would mean detention. Well, yes, but I was already alone, I only had some money. My luggage was left somewhere. My friend had the luggage papers, so I was left completely bare. I went to Sarajevo again, I wanted to try again to see if they'd take me. So he filled out the board of things with me again, then, he turned the pencil around and started erasing again and told me to try Maribor. That it was passable. I was able to get some police maps, so I marked the trail I was going to go. But I got it so wrong that after a day's climb up the mountains, I ended up in the middle of some village and had to turn back. So I was totally exhausted because you're waist-deep in snow. And on the map, I made cross-sections - hill, valley. So, I did it like a geographer. And the second time, the trail was better."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Hostinné, 14.10.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 02:00:03
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Příběhy regionu - HRK REG ED
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I almost got stuck in those frozen mountains near the Austrian border

Roman Bartoš in the studio, 2020
Roman Bartoš in the studio, 2020
zdroj: Witness archive

Roman Bartoš was born on 24 November 1960 and grew up with his parents in a hospital for the visually impaired in the village of Nové Zámky near Hostinné. He first attended the grammar school in Dvůr Králové nad Labem but successfully completed the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Prague, where he studied furniture design and production. He connected his entire working life with the craft of joinery. After unsuccessful entrance exams to the studio of furniture and interior design at VŠUP, he was admitted to the Czech Technical University. However, he failed to pass the demanding mathematics exams and dropped out during his first year of studies. This was followed by military service with the radio operators in Horažďovice and Písek, and then in 1984, a dramatic emigration over the mountains from Yugoslavia to Austria. He was granted asylum in the United States of America in Idaho and New York. After temporary jobs, he returned to his trade as a carpenter. After seven years of intensive work, he managed to save up for his own workshop. In the early 1990s, he embarked on a journey that took him to various countries and continents. He visited Czechoslovakia and gradually moved back here. He settled again near Hostinné, where he continued to run a joinery workshop. He focused on free work and painting and created spatial objects and sculptures from wood.