1 mins
MY SPACE
ALL PHOTOS REUBEN GRAWERT
LUTHIER ILJA GRAWERT
LOCATION Near Whitsunday Islands, Australia
I love having a beautiful environment to do my work in, and I’ve built my business around that ideal. My main violin shop is situated in Brisbane, but five years ago I went about 650 miles north and bought seven acres of land on the north-east coast of Queensland. I got the idea that I’d like to make instruments while being inspired and surrounded by nature, so I bought a 13-ton truck and built a violin workshop into it. Now I mainly work in my truck workshop and spend time working on new instruments and the more intricate repair and restoration work, but five times a year I’ll go down to Brisbane for two to three weeks to deliver finished instruments and service violins. There are several national parks around here, and I can drive out to any of them and work there in peace and quiet; the weather’s beautiful and I can’t think of anything better. At 9 sq m (2.4m x 3.5m), this might be the smallest workshop that’s ever been featured in The Strad.
About two and a half years ago, my son Reuben asked me to show him how to make a scroll. So I showed him, he made one, then a few more, and suddenly he was my apprentice. He now has the workbench on the right-hand side of the picture, while I work on the left side. So far, he’s done some repair work and we’re making a violin together. It doesn’t surprise me, as my father and brother are both violin makers as well; I followed them to Australia from Germany in 1994 as they said there was plenty of work to be had for violin makers here.
My original plan was also to be able to get to musicians living in rural areas, and service their instruments without them having to travel. Sadly Covid intervened and put a stop to that, which is a shame because I love musicians and want them always to have good-quality violins.
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD