PETER
FLORJANČIČ
1919-2020
LIVING A DREAM
Portrait of Peter Florjančič taken just few months before he passed away . Photo : Marko Cotič Trojer .
Athlete , musician and actor , adventurer , cosmopolitan , entrepreneur and , first and foremost , world-class innovator .
Peter Florjančič was born on 5 March 1919 in Bled . As a youth , he was a promising athlete and participated at the 1936 Winter Olympics in ski jumping . His entrepreneurial spirit became evident early on and he started a successful weaving business before WWII . To avoid conscription into the German army , he fled from Bled in 1943 . He staged his own death in avalanche and then crossed the Alps on skis to get to Switzerland .
He had a long , inventive and eventful life , living and working in five European countries and even spent a short time in New York on business . Pasha Ilhami Hussein , whom he met in Monte Carlo , introduced him to the world of the rich and famous . They founded Florilham , a successful company manufacturing products mainly for the cosmetic industry .
In 1998 , he returned home to Bled where he continued to work on inventions . He died on 14 November 2020 .
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