MARCUS KLIMKE

LOCATION

Angers, France

LUTHIER

ALL PHOTOS JEAN-FRANÇOIS RABILLON

MY SPACE

A peek into lutherie workshops around the world

I ’ve been based in this area of central France, in the Loire Valley, almost since I started work as a luthier. I graduated from the Mittenwald School in 1992 and around four years later began working as an assistant luthier for Patrick Robin and Andrea Frandsen, who live a few miles souThof Angers. After six years I opened my own shop, and since then I’ve seen perhaps a dozen more luthiers set up their businesses in and around the city. It’s become quite a violin making hub, just within the past decade, and many of us get together in January each year to socialise. In France there’s a New Year tradition called the ‘Galette des Rois’, where everyone comes together to share a cake containing a small porcelain figurine. The one who receives it becomes the king for a day. Any maker who’s set up a new workshop in the past year has the honour of organising the next Galette des Rois - which last year was me, as my address changed 18 months ago.

My workshop is 12 sq m, although I also have a small room in the basement for my bandsaw, an office and wood store where I do the varnishing, and a sitting room where customers can test their instruments. Most of the decoration around the room consists of certificates from competitions, although I don’t often enter them any more. I also have a stereo on which I listen to most kinds of music, particularly French and Irish folk tunes. I’m in a small folk group myself, and we perform music for dancing around the town.

Because of the pandemic I’ve finally got to the end of my waiting list, and I’m now working on the first viola I’ve made for years that a customer hasn’t ordered! I like making violas as they always need to be tailored to the client, depending on the sound they want, which I find stimulating. Having to make a viola that’s suitable for many players is quite unusual for me; my model is based on one by Giacomo Gennaro, assistant to Nicolo Amati.