LUTHIER CHARLÉLIE DAURIAT LOCATIONGourville, France

INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD

ALL PHOTOS CHARLÉLIE DAURIAT

A peek into lutherie workshops around the world

My workshop is situated in a castle in Gourville, south-west France. I’ve lived in the town for my whole life, and I grew up thinking how much I’d love to reside in the Chateau de Gourville. Last year, I met the owner, who lives in Switzerland and came to the town on holiday. I suggested to him that I could move into the chateau and look after it while also using it as a workshop and, as luck would have it, he agreed. My workspace now takes up the whole of one floor - the room in the photo is around 40 sq m - and I live on the floor above. There’s also space for musicians if they want to stay a few days in order to try out the instruments.

I’ve had to make a lot of changes to the castle in the past year, such as putting up a board on the wall for my tools, and converting some spaces into a varnish room and an exhibition room. One consequence of living in a castle is that none of the rooms have good acoustics - in fact, the best place to test instruments is in a shed in the castle grounds! One of my other duties here is to tend to the upkeep of the grounds and gardens.

I haven’t been here long enough to add very much to inspire me around the workshop - although the castle atmosphere goes some way towards that - but I’ve put up pictures of some of my violin heroes, such as Fritz Kreisler, Yehudi Menuhin and Stéphane Grappelli. There’s also a famous news photo of the cellist Maurice Baquet from 1957, in which he’s holding his umbrella over his cello case to stop it getting wet. I like what it says about how precious a musician’s instrument is to him.

My plan for the future is to stage a classical music festival in the grounds of the castle. I’ve accumulated quite a few instrumentalist friends and I think it’s absolutely essential to have a music event like this in this area, which isn’t particularly known for its music.

The violin in the white, a copy of the Plowden Guarneri, is called the Notre-Dame’. When I sell it, 50 per cent of the sale will go towards the cathedral’s restoration fund.

I’ve used mostly instrument posters as decoration. My favourites to copy are Guarneris, mainly because of the sound. In my experience, both players and dealers tend to like them too!

These large, south-facing windows actually let in too much light for me, so I have to use blinds. I have lamps on every workbench to cast shadows on my work.

Unlike some luthiers, I try to keep the number of tools I use to a minimum. Knives and thumb planes are both important in my work.

Even if the fireplace hadnt been blocked up, I wouldnt use it - the temperature in the castle is already around 21C. The chandelier is from the 19th century.

he oldest surviving parts of the castle were built in the twelfth century, with many later additions. In 1178 it was seized by Richard the Lionheart.