He was an expert in using explosives in the coal mines and used to tell my family many stories of how as a teen he would go around with his friends and blow up unexploded bombs, much to the horror of his mother.
Although he had a passion for working with metal, and was taught by his mentor Joseph Kogourek of Brno, he didn't really get to utilise his talents until he came to Australia.
Following the Prague Spring uprising of 1968 he and his wife Kveta (Kvetoslava) slipped through the porous borders and as refugees were allowed entry into Australia in October of that year.
My father first met Larry (as he was called for the rest of his life) in 1969 when he came to our factory in Katoomba. Larry had created some metal art works that he would call "plechace" (or tinmen) and our factory was looking for unique items to add to our catalogue. Dad and Larry hit it off, dad built Larry a workshop and for a couple of years my brother and I got to hear lots of stories as told by Larry.
Larry and Kveta often visited our home but he had itchy feet and wanted adventure. So around 1971 or 72 they took off for the opal fields - Lightning Ridge, Coober Pedy, Winton, Quilpie, wherever there was opal they were there. For 6 months of the year, every year, they traveled, and all the time his skills as an artist got better.
Once they stayed 6 months with us on our property (living in their caravan) and he taught me to cut opal some of which I still have 40 years later.
By the early 1980's the Krkoskas had saved enough to buy a house and they settled in Queensland in the western suburbs of Brisbane. This is when Larry created his best work utilizing copper, opal and many semi-precious stones. He was obsessed with his designs and was always thinking up new combinations of stone and metal.
For the next 20 years he was very productive and sold his works all over the world. Today, many of his works are featured in boardrooms of mining companies and international corporations in Australia, Japan, USA and pretty much every industrialized country.
But all his hard physical work took a toll on him and by 2001 he had had a 4 way heart bypass, diabetes and a stroke. He retired in the summer of 2002/3 and returned to the the Czech Republic in April of 2003. Larry passed away in 2007.
On this site I show as many of his works as I have images for. Many of his best works are scattered all over the world.
If you ever come across something you may think is his, for he had many imitators, look for his symbol:
