A musician myself from my very early childhood, I chose to handle tools very naturally, out of a desire to find another way of sharing music.
I fill my workshop with woodchips in Normandy, France, an hour away from Paris. Here, the norman light which has inspired numerous painters for centuries is perfectly adequate for viola da gamba luthiery. The wood comes to life, the varnish sublimates.
The calm and the wide workshop open space allow me to serenely build unique instruments, pushing my requirements further every time.
I sometimes leave this peace haven in order to go visit musicians so that I can stay in tune with the development of the musical world, here or there.
Journey
When I chose to combine the practice of the violin with the practice of the knife, I was twenty years old. For three years, I followed the demanding apprenticeship of violin-making at the National School of Lutherie of Mirecourt in France . I left the city after graduation, my diploma in pocket, with the firm intention of specializing in instruments of the baroque era.
​After a real, educational and warm professional springboard in Quebec in the workshop of Guillaume Schönau and Joël Tardif where I discovered the world of luthery across the Atlantic by learning about the restoration of old instruments, I returned to France with my head full of projects.
I worked for a year in the Coquoz workshop, rue de Rome in Paris, where I had the chance to observe and work on magnificent old instruments, with historical or modern set ups. I learned a lot from Guy and Francesco Coquoz and also from Roland Houël, passionate luthiers, who made me aware of the respect for the authenticity of old instruments as well as the requirement, precision of gesture and patience needed in the fields of restoration, maintenance, set up and adjustment of the instruments of the violin and viola da gamba families present on our benches.
This experience brought me so much that I decided to go on, by my own means, on my way. Thanks to the generosity and counsel of two fantastic luthiers, Judith Kraft, viol-maker in Paris and Philippe Monerer, guitar-maker in Mirecourt, I make my first viola da gamba. This model is very personal, inspired by a XVIIIth century seven-stringed bass viol originally built by Peter Rombouts in Amsterdam.
While starting to learn playing this instrument, I decided to complete my skills by following a professionnal wood-carving course in Neufchâteau, in the french Vosges. My teacher, Mr. Bour, inherited and transmitted a very rare and precious know-how.
My steps then took me to Montpellier where I participated in the launching of the Atelier Scordatura led by Olivier Calmeille and where I became familiar with the local musical milieu of early music by taking viola da gamba lessons at the Conservatoire with Luc Gaugler.
Playing the instrument, observing musicians and meeting them, as well as mastering a know-how that has become mine pushed me to finally dare to initiate my own project for good.