Maximilian Fieguth - Sponsor, joined 2022
Max Fieguth is a repeat tree sponsor and tree waterer for STfL. “I’m impressed by the simplicity of the sponsorship process. It suits me as I’m pretty busy.” Out of uni, his first job was on Crossrail. He now uses his training to manage competing priorities in large infrastructure projects.
He was born in Germany and brought up in Brussels. He’s a third-generation engineer, and this shows in our conversation about rainwater conservation, urban planning, and his feelings as a European in London. He is mild-mannered, measured, and analytical. He speaks German, French and English. “It helps me enjoy and appreciate differences. For example, I notice the extreme politeness of the English way of speaking, compared with the transactional speech you get in Berlin. But I’ve been in London since I was eighteen. It’s so long now, it’s my home now really.”
Max and his wife Ashwini met at university and are both engineers. They live in the heart of Brockley with their three young children. “I’m lucky of course to have a back garden but I do love the communal and rich biosphere of London ones. Their openness is quite surprising compared to the gardens I knew when growing up in Brussels. They tended to be very private and separated by high brick walls.”
“I had gardening experience from the age of ten. My mother planted a wisteria and put me in charge of the watering. Pretty good background for an STfL sponsor! Anyway, I’ve got to like gardening as an adult. I’m a ‘trial and error’ gardener. I try quite a bit of stuff, and then I can be delighted with the stuff that takes.”
Max has a similar approach to fatherhood. “Like most dads I’d love to hand on my own enthusiasms, but I want my children to find their own interests and passions. Though they do have to at least try Lego.”
“For myself, I’m very keen on climbing. I’m rather scared of heights, so I prefer bouldering where you clamber on rocks. I like the challenge of wise deployment of physical energy. At all times you must be thinking technically about how to use the body to get where you want.”