Based in The Hague, The Netherlands, I am a violin maker and restorer specialising in the dendrochronological analysis of stringed instruments.
After my training under Nadia Mantovani and Luca Primon at the Milan School of Violin Making, I joined the workshop of Willem Bouman in The Hague from 1997 until 2010. During that period I gathered valuable experience in maintenance, restoration and sound adjustment of stringed instruments.
Following a four year break, in which time I focused mainly on dendrochronological research, I returned to violin making at Maas & Achttienribbe in Amsterdam in 2015.
In 2018 I set up my own company and workshop in The Hague.
From early on in my career, my daily work on fine old violins had raised questions regarding the traditional way of establishing age and origin of an instrument on the basis of its stylistic features. Although a reliable method in many cases, I felt that the subjectivity of this approach inevitably introduced the possibility for misjudgements.
My concerns about traditional expertise prompted me to consider a more rigorous approach with regard to violin authentication. A method that would enable me to establish the age of wood seemed most suitable to dispel at least some of my doubts.