1 mins
MICHALIS PANTELIDES
A peek into lutherie workshops around the world
Lutherie
Nicosia, Cyprus
ALL PHOTOS MICHALIS PANTELIDES
LOCATION
Iwas born in Nicosia, so it was natural for me to set up a workshop here. I opened MP Violins in 2006, after returning from Cremona where I spent five years at the Violin Making School, two years learning bow making with Giovanni Lucchi, and then an apprenticeship with Toshiyuki Matsushita. I believe I’m the only Cypriot ever to have learnt violin making in Cremona, and mine is still the only professional violin workshop in Nicosia, although there are one or two amateur makers and repairers around the island. Violin playing is quite important in Cypriot culture; it features in a lot of our traditional folk music, and it’s customary to have a violin and lute playing at wedding ceremonies. There’s also a professional orchestra based in Nicosia, as well as a youth symphony orchestra and the University of Cyprus has recently set up a programme to foster young violin talent, so there’s always plenty of work!
My shop is 40 sq m divided precisely in two, so that the front half is the showroom and office, while the back half is the workshop where I work with my apprentice Arif Cebeci making and repairing instruments and bows. I have the same amount of space upstairs, where I keep the bandsaw and larger equipment, and the wood store. There’s no spruce or maple on Cyprus, so I brought back most of my wood from Cremona. At the moment I only make a couple of new instruments per year, as I’m so busy with repair work. Musicians here like to have new instruments, though, and I can always find a buyer.
I noticed a lot of changes during and after the pandemic. Some of the younger students gave up learning the violin completely because of the lack of tuition, but on the other hand, some of the adults decided to start learning from scratch – they said it had always been a dream of theirs to learn. For me there was less work for a few months but at least it gave me more time for making new instruments!
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD
Right My workshop is right behind my showroom, so customers can see us working through the windows if they like. As well as for testing instruments, this area doubles as my office.