2 mins
LORENZO FRIGNANI
ALL PHOTOS LORENZO FRIGNANI
MY SPACE
A peek into lutherie workshops around the world
LUTHIER
LOCATION Modena, Italy
Istarted working as a luthier in 1986. I’ve been based in towns including Gubbio, Bologna and Parma, but eventually returned to my home town of Modena in 1997, when my son was born. I’ve had three workshops here, and I’ve been based at this one for the past 15 years. It’s the largest shop I’ve had, and at 90 sq m, it has plenty of room for all my instruments and tools. There’s a section of the workshop dedicated to taking photos of instruments, and another for my UV drying cabinet.
I have three main workbenches, and generally use one for bowed instruments, one for guitars and one for restoration work. Nowadays I make up to six guitars and six bowed instruments per year, and repair a lot more. I use my own personal model for my violins, based on a Stradivari but incorporating a lot of the Emilia-Romagna style, which I think is important to retain. Makers such as Fiorini, Pollastri and Capicchioni embodied elements of this style, and given the large number of instruments being made in this day and age – and especially with so many coming from China – it’s essential for us to preserve the traditions of our forefathers, if only for the experts of tomorrow to be able to identify where our instruments came from.
Several of today’s makers have been apprentices at my workshop, many of whom have won awards at violin making competitions. Marcello Bellei, who worked with me for four years, was also born in Modena and I’m pleased to see how his instruments still show the influence of the Emilia-Romagna makers.
I’ve always combined working with both bowed and plucked instruments, and my collection of historical guitars has been exhibited in Lausanne, Mittenwald and Beijing. Other instrument exhibitions I’ve organised have taken place in Parma, Finale Emilia, Medolla, Pieve di Cento, Spezzano and Rome.
A lot of the pictures on my wall are autographed photos from my customers. There’s also an advertisement for a Paganini concert in Reggio Emilia and a portrait of Joseph Joachim among other things.
The harp behind the cupboard is a rare example, made in Bologna in 1805. I’m planning to donate it to the local music museum at some point.
When I have schoolchildren in the workshop, I use these four scrolls to demonstrate the process of scroll carving, right from a shapeless block of wood to the finished product.
This is a c.1960 violin by the Modena maker Alberto Guerra, which has suffered a very bad restoration job; someone replaced all the original varnish with their own terrible version. I’ve removed it all, and will now re-apply my own.