1 mins
MY SPACE
ALL PHOTOS FLORENT BOYER
LUTHIER
FLORENT BOYER
LOCATION Paris, France
I’ve been based in this workshop for the past 17 years. Before that, the Boyer workshop was located in the Rue de Rome, historically the hotbed of violin making in Paris. My grandfather Frédéric Boyer ran the workshop of Charles Enel until the latter’s death in 1954, when Frédéric took it over. In 1984 he passed on the business to my father Serge Boyer, who still works as an expert while I run the business here, practically on my own. There are several photos of my father and grandfather on the windows and around the shop.
In 2005 we moved the premises to the Rue de Liège, just east of the Rue de Rome. It was formerly the workshop of the luthier René Quenoil, who died in 2018. At 65 sq m, this space is only around half the size of the old shop. I have an assistant to help with the paperwork, but I take care of everything else myself. The main activities are expertise, certification, restoration and sound adjustment; I also have a showroom to sell the instruments I’ve restored, although I don’t make any new ones from scratch. Most of the violins hanging up around the workshop are French and Italian instruments I bought that are in need of restoration.
The one on the top shelf of the cabinet, lying on a cork mould, is a Vincenzo Sannino that I’m about to start restoring for a customer. All the cellos I have for sale are in the showroom, along with several pieces of memorabilia such as a photo of my father with violinist Vladimir Spivakov, and a violin sculpture in the style of the French-born American artist Arman.
I became a violin expert in 2019. For your expertise to be formally acknowledged in France, you need the reconnaissance de ses pairs, or the recognition of your peers. I had to present a letter signed by a number of other certified experts, to say that I had the competence to write certificates and valuations.
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD