In 2015, in our late 20s, we opened our workshop in Aachen. Here we build and restore, sell and rent violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and their bows since then.
Everyone is welcome in our workshop, no matter how old, no matter if you are just starting or have been at it for decades. Everyone deserves an instrument on which making music is a pleasure!
We are passionate about our craft. It is the complexity that excites us so much. The mixture of craftsmanship, music, history, physics, chemistry, and art. The coming together of a more than 300 years old tradition (from which we hardly deviate in the building process even today) and modern technology (which we use in analyzing and restoring bowed instruments). We love pure handwork with the most beautiful materials. It takes time and patience, skill, and knowledge. We are constantly learning and meeting new people. We never get bored.
I was born in Aachen and grew up here. Music, crafts, and arts have accompanied me all my life. And so I quickly found my vocation.
I completed my training as a violin maker at the top of my class at the International Lutherie School in Antwerp.
I supplemented my training with a specialization year, in which I focused on restoration.
During an internship in the restoration workshop of the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels, I discovered my love for the instruments of the Flemish masters of the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the following years, I worked in renowned workshops in Belgium and Germany. These years were formative. I learned a lot about the old masters, their working methods, and stylistic expressions, and deepened my skills in the extensive restoration of high-quality instruments while always continuing to work on my instruments and ideas at home.
Numerous beautiful violins, violas, and cellos found their way onto my workbench. Among them were instruments of well-known masters like Stradivari, Testore, or Rogeri, but not only those famous examples left a lasting impression: Also a nameless cello – presumably from Venice did so because of its sublime scroll, the deep transparent varnish, and its desolate condition when we first met.
In Tongeren (Belgium), I attended an evening sculpture course for two years. The artistic approach to the material wood sharpened my feeling for its structure, shapes, and sculptures.
Then in 2013, Chris and I took some time off. We visited family in the Philippines and friends in Thailand. During this time, our desire grew to do our own thing and open our workshop in the not-too-distant future.
Back in Germany, I quickly found work in a workshop in Cologne. Following my urge for personal development, I began to study musicology and information processing at the University of Cologne alongside my job.
At the end of 2015, we were ready and took the step into self-employment. We have not regretted it!
In 2018, I passed the master craftsman’s examination in Mittenwald.
Since 2019, I have been on the board of the Arbeitskreis Junger Handwerksunternehmen (Young Craftsmen’s Working Group) in Aachen.