Gideon Baumblatt & Mira Gruszow

Luthier

©Marco del Pra

Meeting of two creative minds

Gideon and Mira share a passion for detail
Their work has been recognised with several awards
They participate in exhibitions in Europe and North America

Partners in business and in life, Gideon Baumblatt and Mira Gruszow use their combined skills to create one-of-a-kind violins, violas and cellos. They both trained at the Scuola di Liuteria Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy. They opened their first workshop in Montreal, Canada before moving to Berlin, where they now reside. Mira was 14 when she went to see a violin maker with her broken cello. “I was seduced by the smell and the chaos of the workshop,” she remembers. “I thought that working for musicians must be a nourishing and rich occupation.” Gideon started to play the violin at a very young age. “I made my first violin out of toy blocks to convince my parents to let me play,” he says. “Later I wanted to work with my hands. I liked the mix of things that are involved in violin making: woodwork, interaction with music and musicians, acoustics, geometry, business and much more...”.”

Interview

©Marco del Pra

Gideon, why did you choose to become a luthier?: I find it comforting to create something with my hands. There's no technology involved and I rely entirely on my five senses and intuition. It's very gratifying to make something that becomes the artistic voice of somebody else.
Mira, how do you and Gideon work together?: As we work together on each instrument, Gideon and I develop a preference for different steps. I especially like to make the drawing, the rib structure, the roofing out the arching, the scroll, the set-up and sound adjustments for cellos.
What part of the creative process do you enjoy, Gideon?: I particularly like to cut the purfling and the “f” holes, do the varnishing and antiquing, the set up and sound adjustment for violins and violas. I developed a very accurate technique for antiquing instruments.
How many instruments do you make each year?: We make about six instruments per year, always trying to reach further with even higher quality than the ones which came before. We aim to provide the musicians with instruments that inspire them in their music making because of their endless colours and nuances of sounds.

Gideon Baumblatt & Mira Gruszow are master artisans: they began their career in 2003 and they started teaching in 2009