Barocque Viola after Stradivris Mahler

Pouria Kiani

About the maker

I became interested in woodworking during high school, where I studied at an art-oriented technical school. Around the same time, I began learning the violin, a combination that eventually shaped the direction of my career. My path later took me to Leipzig, where I studied early music with a focus on baroque violin and at the same time learned viola da gamba as a secondary instrument. During my studies, I became increasingly fascinated by the differences between historical instruments, their construction and the specific playing techniques of different eras. This curiosity led me to begin an internship in historical instrument making in 2018, which marked the point at which my interests in music and craftsmanship truly began to converge. From the beginning, I was fascinated by exploring different construction methods and creating instruments from different traditions and eras. In addition to my work as a musician, I have been officially working as a violin maker in Leipzig since the beginning of 2024 and continue to discover and learn the rich and inspiring world of historical string instruments. My experience as a performer greatly influences my approach to construction: understanding how an instrument reacts in the hands of a musician helps me in many of my crafting decisions. For me, instrument making is not just a technical process, but also an artistic continuation of my musical practice.