Sylvie & James Fawcett
Brookside Cottage, Thornham Magna, Eye, Suffolk IP23 8HH
Sylvie and James make all the members of the violin family of instruments in both their modern form, and in period forms from the 17th and 18th centuries for use in historically informed performance. Using hand tools almost exclusively, they employ traditional techniques and materials and prepare and pigment their own varnish using natural oils and resins. Their new instruments are derived from the classical models of Venice and Cremona and have a quality of sound which has won the loyalty of professional and amateur musicians in ensembles around the world.
Sylvie and James trained at the Newark School of Violinmaking and have been established in their workshop in Thornham Magna since the early 1980s, where they also repair and restore old instruments.