Kaspar Pankow

After initial training as a violin maker in Cremona I learned bow making in the West Dean workshops (Sussex, England) from 2006 to the present, under the guidance of Tim Baker and Derek Wilson. I have also attended all the Oberlin bow making workshops (Ohio, USA) since 2011 where I have worked alongside some of the best contemporary makers.

For ten years I worked in London in the workshop of Florian Leonhard where I restored old bows and did some new making. I had the opportunity to study and document many fine examples, mainly of the French and English schools, which has greatly informed my own work.

In 2015, I moved to Switzerland where I now have my own workshop.

I take great care in selecting high quality pernambuco. This, in combination with the taper and camber of the stick, is the key to making a bow with excellent playing and sound qualities.

My bows are handcrafted according to traditional working methods. I take inspiration from the great Parisian bow makers of the first half of the 19th century such as F. X. Tourte, Jacob Eury, Jean Pierre Marie Persoit and in particular, Dominique Peccatte.

 

PRIZES

1st prize awarded by the playing jury and two certificates of excellence for workmanship at the Concours International Dominique Peccatte 1ere Edition, 2016.

EXHIBITIONS

2016 Amsterdam; 2017 + 2018 Contemporary Violin and Bow Makers Exhibition, New York; 2018 Strings Attached, Bern.

2019 BVMA Maker’s Day, London and Werkplatz Geige, Zürich

 

Member of the Swiss Violin and Bow Maker Association (SVGB), British Violin Making Association (BVMA) and the Violin Society of America (VSA).


http://pankowbows.com/