Violins Add to calendar Lukasz Wronski ♦ Lukas Violins New York, NY | Violins | Website Lukasz Wronski was born in Poland. Raised in a musical family, he played the violin from a young age. When getting his instrument repaired one day, he became fascinated by the art of making violins. He began apprenticing with a Polish violinmaker and started making his own at the age of 13. He studied with numerous renowned ateliers throughout Europe before making his home in America ten years ago. His violins are played by concert violinists all over the world and they are featured in countless museums and magazine articles. GET TO KNOW LUKASZ What drew you to your chosen craft? It is hard to say what exactly drew me to my craft and made me love it. I think it has been many things put together. For starters, I began to play violin when I was 9 years old. Soon afterwards, I had an opportunity to visit an atelier of a violin maker working at my home town. I was so impressed by what I saw! I found it astonishing and incredible that someone could make violins with their hands! At the same time, seeing a workshop with so many tools, wood, varnish, and all those things my eyes did not expect to see, seemed really strange to me. I come from a family of musicians/performers and this is why my education started with playing music. It was natural for me to play, since this was what everyone else in my family was doing as well. However, from the moment I met a violin maker, I also became interested in making instruments. I was immediately fascinated by a whole new world of creations and endless possibilities of carving wood. I was eager to learn all about it. When I was 13, I finally made my own first violin. That is also when I knew that this craft was one of the most amazing professions I could choose for my future. And I chose it right then for my life. What do you enjoy most about your craft? The most enjoyable moment comes when an instrument is finished/fully made and it is ready to be played. That is when it becomes a unique piece of art that can serve a great musician. Why is it important for people to make things with their own hands? It is a way of being creative and expressing one’s own ideas of Art. Making things with one’s own hands can be a great way to express oneself. It can help bring to the world a variety of new ideas that cannot be expressed with lone words. Just like music can express more than any words will ever be able to. The principle is the same. Besides, hand craftsmanship is in general a rich tradition and it simply needs to be cultivated and passed onto our children. In what ways are handmade goods better than those that are mass-produced? Handmade goods are definitely more unique and generally have a better quality than mass-produced products. Of course this does not mean that all hand – made musical instruments are always “perfect” and will prove useful. Sometimes something could go wrong and we might need to redo a piece of art. Therefore hand-making also is not necessarily economical the way manufacturing is. Nevertheless, only through careful handwork we get a chance to truly express our individual artistic ideas that are important and valuable to us. When successful, handmade goods become fine collectibles and could also prove valuable monetarily. What does the future hold for your type of work? Violin making is a very old profession and it actually has not changed much since its beginnings in the 16th century. There are already many instruments on today’s market, but there are also many musicians who always look for specific instruments that will fit them right. It is very personal. On the other hand, making a great instrument requires a high level of skills that has always been appreciated and will be even more so in the future. Violins, Yarn, Golf Putters EPISODE | SCHEDULE ♦ YARN | GOLF PUTTERS DISCOVER OTHER ARTISANS [rev_slider alias=”crafts”] #HandcraftedAmerica