1 mins
MY SPACE
A peek into lutherie workshops around the world
LOCATION Leyburn, UK
ALL PHOTOS ROGER HANSELL
I’ve been based at this workshop in Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales since 1993. Prior to that I was making violins in a small workshop in the town centre, but this was before I realised there was a gap in the market for very high-quality fittings; this realisation came about very simply because I could not, at that time, source good fittings for my own instruments. I needed more space to accommodate all the equipment required for this new venture and luckily this workshop became available only three miles from my home. It allows space for my wheelchair escapades too, which is a bonus, as when I first came here I was still able to walk. When the children of clients visit, they thoroughly enjoy sitting in an office chair, clinging to my wheelchair and we go helter-skelter around the benches like a train!
My workshop takes up approximately 160 sq m on the ground floor, and also has a mezzanine where we store wood. It’s huge but has allowed me to divide it into sections for varnishing, instrument making and fittings machinery, keeping the dust and dirt of making fittings completely separate from the cleaner, quieter work of violin making. It’s funny that one can’t do fine hand work with noise going on.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992 and for several years it did not really impact on my making. Now, though, it dictates how I work and the nature of the workshop. I must have flat floors and plenty of space for my wheelchair; in the Yorkshire Dales the choice is either a barn with lumpy floors and narrow doorways or an industrial unit, so the latter is the best option for me. This has governed the amount of light available, but it suits me well because I much prefer to work under concentrated artificial light, which clearly shows any small defects, rather than a diffuse large window over which I have little control.
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD