RIP Hubert Kowalewski

[Steve Bullman]

Wow, this is sad news. Was only a couple days ago I mentioned the ART gear in Micks gamechanger thread.

 

https://www.freeworker.de/2019/07/01/freeworker-in-trauer-zum-tode-hubert-kowalewski/?fbclid=IwAR010q5KmauQZfnJScXJlSlQi70642QjcJPuKGkcBTqNe0JdmtYoL5kcrws

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Wow, this is sad news. Was only a couple days ago I mentioned the ART gear in Micks gamechanger thread.

 

https://www.freeworker.de/2019/07/01/freeworker-in-trauer-zum-tode-hubert-kowalewski/?fbclid=IwAR010q5KmauQZfnJScXJlSlQi70642QjcJPuKGkcBTqNe0JdmtYoL5kcrws

I know it is sad coz of the RIP . I clicked the link but its all in German or Czechoslovakian or Polish ? .

Edited July 1, 2019 by Stubby

[Steve Bullman]

It auto-translated for me.

 

Copy/pasted from freeworkers site

 

Last week, we received the sad news that Hubert Kowalewski, mastermind of ART, has passed away. Many in the tree climbing scene already knew that the revolutionary of the tree climbing technique suffered for a long time from severe depression. The news about Hubert's suicide puts Freeworker in deep sadness. For many years we have been closely associated with the inventor and inventor.

The inventor of the LockJack and many other pioneering climbing tools for tree care has only been 57 years old, leaving a gap in the tree climbing scene. Our thoughts are with the family of Hubert, whom we wish much strength in these days of loss.

"I have known Hubert since 1997 and we have been closely connected ever since, both business and personal. Together we went through many ups and downs. We planned and thought together, and exchanged ideas. We struggled for details and supported each other to the best of our ability. Together, we both moved on. Always with the focus on helping to shape and advance the world of tree climbing.

I am in great sadness not only because I lost an important friend and partner, but also because I was unable to help him. He always wanted to be self-determined. I want to respect his decision, even if I can not understand it. The pain in me remains. My heartfelt condolences to the relatives "

Johannes Bilharz

 

Hubert Kowalewski - A unique Tinkerer

Huber Kowalewski, the man behind the tree-climbing brand ART, has a place in the history of tree-climbing. With the invention of the LockJack safety device in 1998 he fundamentally changed the tree climbing technique. It was a spectacular throw that he succeeded at that time. David against Goliath. Hubert, the unknown arborist from a small village near Minden, takes over the industry in his own right. Not least against a large number of tree climbers. They saw their freedom threatened to use non-certifiable terminal nodes. These resistances drove him to the very end in his work.

With the SpiderJack, he is setting new standards for ergonomics, suppleness, efficiency and energy savings a second time. With the spectacular SpiderJack video by Australian world-class climber Joe Harris, he achieved the long-awaited worldwide breakthrough and recognition by the best climbers in the world.

Prior to his career as a manufacturer, he himself had been traveling as a climbing arborist for seven years in treetops with partially self-designed material. Hubert was always a "do-it-yourself maker", who not only tinkered with his material for nights, but also taught himself how to climb trees.

The initial spark for LockJack took place at the Baumklettermeisterschaften 1995 in Minden. Here he recognized the possibilities of the double-rope technique, which was climbed at this time by missing alternatives even with the friction-intensive terminal node. For many, the "hip swing technique" is still a term that is as exhausting as it sounds. Two weeks after the championship, the first idea was born. For another three years, Hubert worked on ideas and materials and tried out solutions and functional principles until the patented and certified LockJack T1 / T2 was ready for the market in 1998. This year, the close partnership began with Johannes Bilharz and later with Freeworker.

"Have the courage to serve you of your own mind"

Hubert Kowalewski was born of curiosity about technology and creativity. Already his father was an enthusiastic inventor and he encouraged his son early to even think about things, to look for solutions and to think about materials, tools, steps. First, the paternal model in converted bicycle models and later in Hubert's motto "Have the courage to serve you of your own mind". Listening, watching, learning, thinking and improving were all Hubert Kowalewski's lifes for a lifetime. Also the advertising slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik" inspired him in his statement.

After school, he completed his training as a forest farmer, before he later completed the Abitur and in the subjects history, sports and philosophy studied. He financed his studies in a car workshop. Many years later he always repaired his own cars. However, forest and climbing were more attractive and after two years he finished his studies. Then he continued working as a self-climbing arborist and began to tinker with his climbing equipment. At the same time Hubert started at the professional fire brigade in Hanover. Nature and people help, sports and technology, these were his sources of motivation.

Advenced Ropeclimbing Technology - ART

In the year of series production of LockJack, he founded his own company, whose name became known worldwide in the climbing scene and stands for exciting innovations. The LockJack and ART turned the inventor and hobbyist, the designer Hubert Kowalewski. His claim to his own products was enormously high. For the professional tree climber, as well as for the beginner and no matter what skills and habits the user brought, he should be enriched with every ART product.

With this maxim, he worked with great obsession in the following years on new equipment, each of which caused a stir in the tree climbing world. He never just wanted to copy, but to find his own new solutions. The countless patents attest to this. LockJack T1 and T2 became LockJack Twin and LockJack Sport. Even a small device like the ingenious snap carabiner Trapeze went through several metamorphoses to the present version. Inspired by his own observations and clues from the tree climbing scene, he developed ideas and sought solutions, first in his own world. His claim was to copy nothing, to have ideas of his own and to pursue only things that are new and offer added value.

In almost all his developments, Hubert Kowalewski has achieved something unique that fulfilled his claim. Whether the little Trapeze, the RopeGuide, the Cocoon, the SpiderJack and many more of his developments, they are all unique and packed with fascinating and thoughtful details. They all brought the added value for the climber Hubert had set for his own claim. If he found a better idea and solution, he continued to work on it until the solutions were as far as possible retrofittable for old devices. Users of old devices should use novelties without having to buy a new device.

For Hubert, the focus was not on the business, but on user recognition. The devices and products should be convincing, functional and sustainable. He always wanted to build the devices in a modular way. One of his trademarks: Wear parts are interchangeable. As one of the first he dared to release the PSA for ten years. For a small manufacturer a high risk.

Pursuit of constant improvement

Hubert Kowalewski knew that the perfect device does not exist. Nevertheless, he wanted to come close to perfection with his ideas and set new standards. His own high aspiration was to merge dynamics, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and ergonomics. At the same time he paid attention in his constructions to further improve the devices at any time by the exchange of individual parts.

With Hubert Kowalewski a mastermind and revolutionary leaves the tree climbing technique in a tragic and profoundly depressing way. He secured the future of ART Enterprise GmbH beyond his death and has been in the care of his successors for some time now. Until the end, he assisted them with advice and inexhaustible expertise.

Hubert Kowalewski will be sadly missing. His name and his services to tree climbing, however, remain. He made his invention a permanent monument in the tree climbing technique. A heartfelt appreciation and the great respect of many tree climbers and arborists and freeworkers are Hubert Kowalewski forever safe.

[Mick Dempsey]

Well, I never heard of the bloke, but he sounded like a hell of a free thinker and innovator.

 

Only a couple of years older than me.

 

RIP.

[Stubby]

Yes . Very sad Steve . I had a neighbor  ( also a friends ) who made clocks from the off cuts of my wood . I would cut him a slice and he would fit a cheap quartz movement to it and make the clock face out of the disk . Then try to sell them at the market . I went on holiday for 2 weeks to a Greek island or something and when I came home he was dead in the garage with exhaust pipe into the car . I had no idea he was that depressed . I felt guilty not taking more notice .

[Steve Bullman]

10 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Well, I never heard of the bloke, but he sounded like a hell of a free thinker and innovator.

 

Only a couple of years older than me.

 

RIP.

His name might not be familiar, but I’m sure his products are. Rope guide, lock jack and spider jack to make a few 

[Stephen Blair]

RIP

[Ty Korrigan]

He worked for Freeworker?

 Brilliant company to deal with.

   Stuart

 

[Wedgebanger]

Yeh I never heard of the guy, like a lot of other guys I guess.

 

but it fills me with sadness, to read this. 

 

It it is really unbelievable in this dayonage  that if someone talks about things in they way this guy felt. Peeps can’t handle it and walk away.   

 

Ask sme how I know......

[eggsarascal]

3 minutes ago, Wedgebanger said:

Yeh I never heard of the guy, like a lot of other guys I guess.

 

but it fills me with sadness, to read this. 

 

It it is really unbelievable in this dayonage  that if someone talks about things in they way this guy felt. Peeps can’t handle it and walk away.   

 

Ask sme how I know......

Calm down chap, don't do anything silly.