MEET THE GERMAN ENGINEER WHO LOVES LIVING IN NI... AND EVEN JOINED THE MASONS HERE
❝ Life is more focused now we have a family. Before I was going to festivals and parties but I don’t do that any more
Engineer Sebastian Heinz (36) didn’t know much about Northern Ireland before coming to study here but, as he tells Stephanie
Bell, he quickly fell in love with the people and was particularly intrigued by an organisation which is often considered secretive
Sebastian Heinz had never heard of Belfast and had to Google the city when the chance arose to apply for a PhD scholarship at Queen’s University 11 years ago. When the German-born product design engineer arrived for his interview at the university back in 2009, it was to a more depressed city which was in the early throes of regeneration.
He knew nothing about the lay of the land here and when he spotted a house with cheap rent in the heart of the loyalist Shankill Road, he snapped up the lease.
It was the height of the marching season and Sebastian, now 36, could only watch in wonder as endless processions of local bands and Orangemen paraded past his new front door.
It was an introduction which endeared him to the city and Northern Ireland which he has now made his home.
Not only has he settled with his partner Lara, a teacher in Comber, but he is a proud dad to 18-month-old Mavyn and Romy (four months).
So determined has he been to embrace his new life here that he has embedded himself in his local community by joining the Freemasons.
Intrigue about the age-old fraternity and a desire to make new friends saw him apply for membership of the organisation which for many years has been shrouded in secrecy.
One of a growing new wave of young members signing up to the ancient order which has been undergoing a revival in recent years, Sebastian is keen to sing its praises and shatter some of the longheld myths which surround it.
He admits: “Yes some of the rituals and traditions could be regarded as a little weird but also they are perfectly fine and really not that odd when you think about it.
“It is no different from bringing friends together in your home to dance around the record player in your living room.
“That’s a ritual and it’s just little things people do when they come together and there is nothing really crazy or odd about it.
“They do have an interesting approach and there are certain steps and traditions on how things are proposed and who speaks and how meetings are run but that just makes it interesting and even thought provoking.”
Sebastian is originally from a small town called Weissach outside Stuttgart, a region known for its engineering.
His parents still live there and now holiday here in Northern Ireland every year, and he has a brother who lives in France.
One of the reasons he fell in love with Northern Ireland was what he saw as a more laid-back approach to life here compared to his native Germany.
He says: “Even though my home town is small there are some big automotive engineering research centres there and half the population in the town would be engineers.
“There is a lot of wealth in the area and this expectation that everyone there is supposed to do well and work towards a nice home and a well respected job and it is a pressurising society.
“I found it a very confined way of living.”
It was while studying for a masters degree in London that he heard about PhD scholarships at Queen’s University Belfast.
Encouraged by one of his tutors to apply, he came here with no intentions of making Northern Ireland his home. His introduction to the city was colourful to say the least and he now loves the craic and the more relaxed vibe of Belfast.
He recalls: “To be fair I didn’t even know where Belfast was and I had to look it up online. Obviously I kind of knew from the past about the Troubles but I knew nothing else about Northern Ireland.
“When I arrived for my interview I had to walk from the Europa Hotel to Queen’s and that was my first impression of Northern Ireland. It was very different then to now, very run down and depressed, which I didn’t mind so much.
“The first place I lived was a tiny house which was only £270 a month to rent on the Shankill Road.
“I had no insight into the city at all and I lived there for two years with no problems. I got on with my neighbours and it was interesting to have the bands parade outside my front door as I had never seen anything like that in Germany.”
Specialising in interactive online design, he worked on his PhD at The Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s developing interactive music tools known as Patchblocks. This led him to abandon his PhD to set up his own design company.
After becoming a dad for the first time last year he sold his company to an English firm which now employs him as a product design engineer.
Fatherhood has also provided a new calming influence.
“Life is a bit more focused now that we have a family,” Sebastian says. “Before, I was doing all sorts of different things and going to festivals and parties but I don’t do that anymore.
“I got into the music scene in Belfast and loved the culture and the people who I found to be really down to earth.
“My partner Lara is more calm than me and has made me a little less crazy — I’m a much calmer person now, espe