Awards

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We are truly happy to have gained the following Awards within the last few years

Violin Society of America

2022 Gold Medal for tone for Quartet
2022 Certificate for Artisanship for Quartet
2022 Silver Medal for Artisanship for Cello
2022 Certificate of Artisanship for Viola
2022 Certificate of Artisanship for Violin
2018 Silver Medal for Tone for Quartet

We want to encourage you to perform music with instruments that will be inspiring in any way for years to come: be it aesthetically, technically or tonally.

A profound understanding for the sound of an instrument with the personal needs and professional requirements of the musician are on an equal footing with our claim to manufacture new-build instruments of the highest quality.

One key to truly excellent sounding instruments is the quality of the wood a luthier's workshop can build upon. That is why we select all the woods used in the process of our making with special care. For the tops we take spruce of the highest quality from northern Italy and flamed maple from Eastern Europe. For the surfaces of our instruments we use only oil and resin based varnishes which is entirely made by ourselves.

Instruments leaving our workshop are unique examples of an elaborate process, handcrafted with a personal signature.

Most contemporary violin makers and musicians agree that the instruments of the Italian masters of the 17th and 18th century, and in particular the works of Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù and Antonio Stradivari, can hardly be surpassed in quality. In our opinion this is precisely where the aspiration of any modern maker of stringed instruments should originate from, in an attempt to connect historical knowledge and competence with the requirements and opportunities of the present.

This is why we are constantly studying the forms and proportions of the instruments of our predecessors, in all their details and many facets. Learning from these almost inexhaustible resources we are creating excelent new instruments, unique in terms of sound and aesthetics and, of course, in the best tradition of craftsmanship.

We'd love to invite you to meet us in our studio!

Julia Jostes

geboren 1983, groß geworden im Frankfurter Raum und Ellwangen an der Jagst. Entdeckung des Geigenbaus über das Erlernen des Cellospiels und durch ein Praktikum beim Geigenbauer Peter Pots, S´Hertogenbosch, Niederlande. Ausbildung zur Geigenbauerin an der Geigenbauschule Mittenwald, 2005 abgeschlossen mit der Gesellenprüfung. Praktikum bei Markus Klimke, Angers. 2006 Anstellung bei Franz Übelhör in Linz, Österreich, beschäftigt mit Restaurierung und Neubau von Streichinstrumenten. 2008 Umzug nach Hamburg und langjährige, prägende Mitarbeit in der Geigenbauwerkstatt Anneke Degen. Seit 2016 selbstständig mit Simon Eberl.

2019 Teilnahme an dem renommierten Geigenbau Workshop in Oberlin, Ohio USA.

Gemeinsam mit Simon mehrfache Gastteilnahme an Ausstellungen der Gruppe Klanggestalten und diverse Erfolge beim Geigenbauwettbewerb der VSA (Violin Society of America).

Simon Eberl

born in 1981 in Frankfurt a.M., grown up in the surrounding region and later in Lengerich near the Teutoburg Forest. First violin lessons at the age of 5 and later, after several internships with the violinmaker Yvon Calvez situated in Münster, Westfalen, he found his passion for the craft of violinmaking. Trained in Mittenwald he finished the school with his exam in 2007. Employed at Schellong & Osann, Hamburg with a focus on the restoration of bows and stringed instruments. From 2012 he works as an assistant for Ragnar Hayn in Berlin with an intense focus on new making.

Self employed with his wife Julia Jostes since 2016 in Lübeck.

Since 2017 multiple participation in the renowned violinmaking workshops in Oberlin, Ohio, USA.

Since 2022 board member of the Violinmaking Workshop e.V. Brandenburg/Havel Together with Julia participant in exhibitions of the group Klanggestalten and various awards at the violinmaking competition of the VSA (Violin Society of America)

Workshops and excibitions

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The constant exchange with colleagues from all over the world has become a crucial and most valuable part of our work.

Since several years we are taking part in different workshops and exhibitions around Europe and Northern America. The exchange with colleaugues and friends as well as the examination of unique instruments have become an elemental part of our work. Since 2022 we are therefore co-organisators of the International Violinmaking Workshop in Brandenburg together with Almuth and Ian McWilliams and Andreas Hampel

Oberlin Violinmaking Workshop (2017, 2019, 2022)
Acoustic Workshop in Le Mans with Claudia Fritz and George Stoppani
International Violinmaking Workshop in Brandenburg (2021, 2022, 2023)
Klanggestalten exhibitions (2019, 2022)
Exhibition during the International Chambermusic Campus in Weikersheim

What else?

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The Leonkoro Quartet plays the third movement of Mozarts String Quartet No. 14 in G-Minor, K.387 with our instruments from the VSA competition in 2022.