Atelier VIOLZ · Suwon, Korea
Violoncello da spalla · Viola d'amore · Viols — an early strings atelier.
VIOLZ is a workshop built around the violoncello da spalla, the viola d'amore and the viol family, alongside violins, violas and cellos. For well over a decade, one instrument at a time — made slowly, with wholehearted care, for the player who will hold it.
Why These Instruments
Music today does not happen only in large halls. There are far more small stages now, close enough to touch the audience, and at that distance the grain of a sound carries further than its volume.
Sympathetic strings that sound without being touched, the overtones gut strings release, a low register travelling up through the player's body — early instruments resonate by a different grammar than modern ones. The surprise of hearing that for the first time is what has kept me at this work.
Most of the music these instruments were born into rang out in churches — Bach's cantatas and Passions, from an age when faith and music were not yet separate things. For a maker who has long held sacred music close to his heart, rebuilding these instruments is also a way of answering that sound.
These instruments are still unfamiliar in Korea. All the more reason, then, to build them properly and to introduce them well.
Instruments
Working from surviving technical drawings and historical sources, I design the workshop's own models — and give each instrument more than eight months of devoted work.
A small five-string cello slung from the shoulder, from the years when Bach was writing his cello suites. Held against the chest, its low register travels straight through the player's body. Cello range under violin fingering — an instrument still rarely seen in Korea.
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Beneath the bowed strings run sympathetic strings that sound of their own accord. That resonance has been described as a small cathedral held inside the instrument. The blindfolded Amor carving and the flame soundholes make it as much a sculpture as an instrument.
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Frets, a flat back and thin ribs — the sound that comes closest to the human voice. Intimate and warm rather than piercing. Viols come as a family, from treble to bass, so I build them as consort sets as well.
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The Maker
I have been making string instruments for sixteen years. Since 2018 I have taken part in China's international instrument exhibition every year, and many of the instruments I have built have gone to early-music players there — they are in use with ensembles in Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
I do not thin the plates to make a new instrument sound impressive on its first day. I keep to the measurements the originals taught me through restoration work, and trust the instrument that deepens with time.
The Workshop
Only European tonewood dried for ten years or more. I do not build with lower grades — if the right piece is not there, I wait.
Graduation is what I spend the longest looking at. Dozens of measured points, checked against tap tone, in a workshop kept at a steady humidity.
Six months for a violin, eight for a spalla or a d'amore. One instrument at a time.
Varnished the traditional way, oil and spirit combined. I make Davide Sora's linoxin myself, and use only batches that have aged more than ten years.
I also do antiquing, giving a new instrument the face of an old one. Layers of period pigment, wear where hands have rested, dust settled into the cracks of the varnish — time drawn onto a new instrument.
Modern Family
Built on Stradivari and Guarneri models, and held to the same standards as the early instruments.
Based on Stradivari and Guarneri models. The measurements of the originals are respected, aiming at a sound that deepens year by year.
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The instrument the name VIOLZ grew out of. Sized to the player's build, so that comfort and a deep C string come together.
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The instrument closest to the human voice. Graduation held true even across broad plates, to carry both a foundation in the bass and a singing top.
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As a rule I take on repair and maintenance only for instruments made here, so that commissioned work keeps its time. In return, every instrument that leaves the bench is looked after for good — from seasonal set-up adjustments to the restoration of damage the years leave behind.
About care
Workshop Photo · Coming Soon
Whether you are thinking of commissioning an instrument, curious about the sound, or would simply like to look around — any reason is a good one. Just get in touch before you come.
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