While taking a visual arts program at the Ontario College of Art & Design, which included a year abroad in Florence, Italy, my interest in Renaissance and Baroque culture began to narrow in on the exquisite form and function of stringed, bowed instruments made by the likes of the Stradivari and Guarneri families. I made my first viola at OCAD under the instruction of Philip Davis, and subsequently found myself working at The Sound Post, a full-service violin shop in Toronto. Working in a busy shop, sharing benches with fellow violinmakers, I fell in love with the nuanced interplay between shaped wood and sound. I was keen to learn more with the help of others, and I benefitted greatly from the steady flow of old instruments turning up on my bench, each of them revealing different secrets.

In 2006, my wife and I moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland and bought a house formerly owned by a local luthier. From my home studio, I spend my time caring for the violins, violas and cellos of professionals and students alike. I also maintain the fleet of Prestige instruments at Memorial University’s School of Music. I balance my repair and restoration work with custom commissions, where I explore my interest in crafting high quality instruments that suit specific needs of a player.

Just as much as the scrupulous handiwork involved in repairing, restoring and making instruments, I enjoy meeting musicians, building a rapport with them, and ultimately helping them develop and maintain the sound they are looking for in their instruments.

—Rodney de Vries