Eva & Christo Marino

The string instrument makers

• Christo & Eva create violins, violas and violoncelos for professional musicians
• For them qualitative wood material is at the heart of violin making
• They were influenced by Cremona with its vivid violin making scene

“A well made instrument should be easy to play and with a unique sound”. This is the professional maxim guiding the path of violin making for the founders of Marino Violins Christo and Eva Marino. They met in Bulgaria during the 1990s and joined forces to continue their luthier education at one of the best schools: The International School of Violin Making A. Stradivari in Cremona, Italy. They had the chance to meet some of the most influential violin players in the world there and ever since Cremona has become a home for them and their workshop. A real breakthrough moment came in 2010 when Bruno Giuranna, one of the legends of classical viola, fell in love with one of their violas and decided to buy it, despite the fact that up until then he had never owned or played on a new instrument.

Interview

©Marino Violins

©Marino Violins

When did you first discover violin making?

Christo: I was a small child when my father showed me the music atelier of the Music Academy in Plovdiv, where he was teaching. For me this was a magical place, which enlightened my passion to take the luthier profession.

How did you start working together?

Eva: We have always supported one another in our work, but once we decided to make an instrument together. The result of this collaboration was astonishing. The sound of the instrument united the best traits of both of us - the male power and the female sensitivity. From this moment on we started to create instruments.

What kind of instruments do you create and for whom?

Christo: We craft violins, violas and violoncelo inspired by the classical makers here in Cremona, in Brescia and the ones in Venice. Additionally, we work on our own models and with them we experiment with new constructional ideas and improvements. Our clientele is mostly professional musicians from all over the world.

What makes Cremona so special for you?

Eva: After we graduated, we had to choose between a permanent job as restorers of instruments in London or to take the risk to start our own atelier. We decided to stay in Cremona and to dedicate ourselves to the art of crafting new instruments. Cremona is the only town in the world, where the tradition of passing down your craft to the next generation is still alive.

Eva & Christo Marino are master artisans: they began their career in 1999 and they started teaching in 2003

Works

©Marino Violins

©Marino Violins

Where