The Secrets Behind the Maker: Hyun-Jung Park
Back to Blog“Understanding the curves of each instrument stimulates my creativity. While studying old violins like these, the exchanges with contemporary violin makers and players also inspire me a lot.” – Hyun-Jung Park
Hyun-Jung Park studied the violin from the age of 7, attending an art high school and university. She became interested in violin making while studying there, and in 2011, she entered the ‘Istituto Stradivari’ violin-making school in Cremona, Italy, where she learned to make string instruments.
The beginning of a Luthier Career
She has always loved doing things with her hands, whether drawing or playing musical instruments. Naturally, she learned a lot about art in general and majored in playing the violin.
As a teenager, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. But in her 20s, she started thinking deeply about her interests and talents. She loved the violin but didn’t seem interested in performing for an audience or teaching others how to play. Rather, she liked creative activities like writing or making things for someone who loves the violin and enjoyed creating things alone, making a violin probably made sense.
In 2015, when she was a student, she began to emerge as a violinmaker by winning the Silver Prize in the Young Luthier category at the A.N.L.A.I Competition in Cremona. In 2016, she graduated from the Professional School of Violin Making and Bow Making in Cremona with a diploma after completing 5 years of study (her present course will last for approximately 6 years).
Now, the Rising Star maker has 11 years of experience in the profession and is currently working at Amorim Fine Violins in Cremona as a violin maker and bow maker.
The maker has also conquered awards!
Third Prize at the 8th International Competition of Sesto Fiorentino
Second Prize at the 9th A.N.L.A.I. Violin Making Competition – Cremona, Italy
Park likes to work on her models by making copies and new-looking models.
She has been working with violins for 25 years as a player and 10 of those as a maker, so she has a detailed understanding of what players want in playing the violin.
“From my experience as a player, I can understand what players want, what they find comfortable or uncomfortable with their instruments, and how to improve them.”
She took up bow-making because she knew the effect of the bow on the performance based on her experience as a musician, and she thought that learning bow-making would give her an in-depth understanding of the relationship between bows and instruments.
Hyun-Jung Park makes instruments using various methods, including selecting wood, design, tension, arching shape, weight, and varnish material. She makes them in a way that gives an advantage to the sound but does not put much strain on the wood.
She seeks to help the musician play without technical discomfort and to help the wood of musical instruments to produce their own distinctive sounds.
The luthier who has influenced her most is Antonio Stradivari. She has been making instruments modeled on the form he used for over ten years and has studied his work extensively.
But, she feels that the instruments of the Amati family are the most beautiful, and Guarneri del Gesù violins have the most impressive and powerful sound. And she thinks instruments from the 1800s and 1900s based on them are also fascinating.
Keep scrolling to meet Hyun Jung Park Violin available on our website.
A Violin by Hyun-Jung Park, Cremona, 2021
Sounding dark, sweet and round.
A personal line modified on Antonio Stradivari P mould violin. In our view, the violin’s highlight is the perfectly symmetrical and precisely-cut f-holes.
The Workshop
Amorim Fine Violins is a violin, viola, and cello workshop based in Cremona. Our mission is to provide musicians with instruments so they can uniquely express themselves. We are a family business, just like the workshops of Stradivari and Guarneri. Founded in 2001 by the renowned violin maker Luiz Amorim and his wife, Betina Schreiner. We bring our fine arts experience into the violin-making field. .
