Peter Florjančič’s life reads like a movie plot: At various points in his life, he was an Olympic skier, a refugee, an inventor of products used by millions, and a bon vivant who hobnobbed with the rich and famous.
Florjančič was born in 1919 and grew up in the Slovenian resort town of Bled. The interwar period brought unprecedented glamour to the town and Florjančič often encountered royalty - including Britain’s King Edward VIII - and other European elites who came to the Slovenian Alps to get away from their everyday lives. The young Florjančič was a restless spirit himself - as well as a keen athlete. He competed for Yugoslavia at the 1936 Winter Olympics as a skier.
However, his carefree days came to an end when World War II broke out. That’s when German forces occupied Bled and the rest of northern Slovenia. Fearing that he would be drafted into the German army, Florjančič faked his death on an Austrian mountain. He then fled across the Alps to Switzerland, where he spent some time in a refugee camp.
He eventually made it to Berne, where he invented a loom especially adapted for the disabled. He sold the invention a local businessman. It became a success and it made Florjančič a wealthy man. He got married in Switzerland, but his restless spirit prevented him from settling there.
Florjančič traveled to Monte Carlo after the war for what was supposed to be a week-long stay. Instead, he ended up spending the next 15 years in the Mediterranean resort. His family settled in a hotel frequented by the rich of famous, from Arabian princes to movie stars such as Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth.
By the hotel’s pool one day, Ilhamy Hussein Pasha, a close associate of Egypt's King Farouk, offered to buy his daughter. It was an offer Florjančič found all too easy to refuse, but the two men entered a business partnership and eventually marketed a perfume spray design that is still in use today. When Florjančič jokingly mentioned to the Pasha that he had always wanted an Aston Martin, a brand-new Aston Martin awaited him in front of the hotel a few days later.
Not all of Florjančič's ideas were successful. He was the first to conceive of a plastic zipper and an air bag, but he lacked the resources to turn those ideas into reality. (An air bag prototype of his ended up exploding.) However, other patents of his – such as frames for projector slides and an improved cigarette lighter – became widely used and earned him a handsome income. He eventually opened a workshop in Germany, where he could develop prototypes of his inventions.
In 1998, Florjančič returned to Slovenia. Despite failing eyesight, he has continued to invent well into his nineties. One of his recent inventions is an underwater massage that can be fitted to swimming pools. After being featured in the documentary The Story of Mr. P.F., Florjančič finally became better known in Slovenia. He has made a number a number of television appearances sharing the adventures of his long but always exciting life.
