GG Petrović

Marko Petrović engraves fine scrollwork into steel in a Belgrade workshop, ceremonial blades and presentation pieces and the occasional shotgun for clients he does not discuss, in a craft where one slipped burin ruins a month's commission. He works alone with the radio off and has done since his master died and left him the bench. He plays there and nowhere else. Door closed, tools down, the same stool, and not at home in the evening and not on a phone in a café, because the workshop is where his hands already know to be careful. Each move goes down with the steadiness of a cut that cannot be recut. The engraving, he says, trained his face as well as his hands. Collectors have written to him in English for years and he has always answered — briefly, then back to the bench.