Maker Background
Andrea Giovannetti and Kyle Schultz combine their knowledge and experience dedicating themselves to crafting high-level instruments,
interpretating the work of the great Italian Masters, to reach the highest professional level required by the most demanding musicians.
Andrea Giovannetti was born in Florence in 1984, started playing violin at a young age and was introduced to violin making as a teenager, attending an amateur violin maker workshop. After obtaining the high school diploma, following his passion for woodworking, he worked as an apprentice in a sawmill. Subsequently, he got a bachelor's degree in natural sciences and a master's degree in biology. During his studies, he deepened his knowledge in violin making with the aim to reach the professional level. Since 2014, he attended several violin-making courses, among which the one at the "Sandro Pertini" Professional Training Institute in Trento. At the same time, he has been under the private tutelage of Master violin maker Luca Primon in his workshop, acquiring more refined techniques in the manual construction of stringed instruments. From careful tonewood selection to instrument setup, varnishing, and the making of classical varnishes in violin making. In 2018, he won funding to participate in the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" exchange program of the European Union. He was able to work as an apprentice for Master violin maker Andreas Hudelmayer in London, where he learned techniques in copying and antiquing. Kyle Schultz was born in South Africa in 1997, and also started playing at a young age, and through the years, he further developed his fondness for the mechanics and history of the violin. Kyle decided to learn the craft of violin making and repair through an introduction to numerous books and articles, all written by our most talented craftspeople. This led him to build his first two violins. ln the same period, he was given the opportunity to do minor repairs on student violins at his music school, this was an experience that he cherish as the roots of his craft. In 2018 he applied to the internationally renowned Newark School of Violin Making and Repair, which received a First-Class Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours. During his three years of studying at the School, he attended lectures with world-renowned makers and restorers as well as receiving funding for courses and the furthering of his degree all generously awarded by the RAB (Rowan Armour-Brown) Memorial Trust for all the years of his degree. What gave him later the opportunity to learn new skills and further his understanding of fine violin making and restoration.
