About us

I grew up in a musical family – my mother sang in TRUK/PACT’s opera choir, and both my siblings played piano. I, the youngest, chose the violin – or perhaps it was chosen for me because my parents were tired of listening to piano scales! I took violin lessons throughout my school years with Annemarie Swanepoel in Pretoria. After school I obtained a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked a few years as an engineer, before switching to Finance.

In 1988 whilst studying, a friend who also played the violin and I took a grand tour of Europe with an Eurail train ticket, backpacks, and little money. He was half-German and said we must visit Mittenwald, where the German violin-making school is and the German violin industry was centered. We did, and there I saw for the first time how a violin was made. After we returned, we decided to try building one, but this was before the internet era, and we didn’t have the money to import the right wood and tools. We just bought a plank from the nearest wood store and a stack of sandpaper – because anything that can be done with a chisel can also be done with sandpaper, we reasoned. It just takes a bit longer. I sanded for months and eventually finished the back. But during the process, I realised it was just a waste of time. Without the right wood, glue, and tools, it’s impossible to build a working violin. The dream was then put on hold until 2000 when the family and myself moved into a new house in Linden, Johannesburg. I then had space, the internet was up and running, and I had a bit of savings and a credit card so I could import wood and tools. The first violin was very poor, but it could play for a while, the second still plays, the third and fourth were small violins for my children, and from the fifth one onwards, all have been sold. Over the years, I attended many courses in Europe to elevate my skills and experience. 

I can play the violin quite well and played for many years in the Rand Symphony Orchestra. This gives me a good sense of what a violin player looks for in a violin and helps a lot in the making process and final adjustments. 

Players who own my violins include Zanta Hofmeyr, Serge Cuca, Maretha Uys, Vaughan McLean, and Daphne Rudolph. Maretha is the assistant concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Daphne won my viola as a prize in the first string competition of the South African Strings Foundation. She now also plays for the Mzansi Orchestra and recently played my viola on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York. I also worked on Joshua Bell’s famous Stradivarius violin when he performed in South Africa a few years ago, as well as on Rachel Lee Priday’s Guarneri.