Violin Place - James Robinson

James Robinson's violin shop, located in Chatswood, NSW provides all levels of string players with professional repairs and restoration service. http://www. violinplace.com. au /

James was born in Seattle, Washington, USA in 1948. In 1971, upon the advice of Mrs. Wurlitzer, in New York City (where he was living) he bought one way passage on board the "Michaelangelo" to study violin making in Cremona, Italy. He studied at the violinmaking school with Gio Batta Morassi, Pietro Sgarabotto and Francesco Bissolotti until 1973, and worked in the shop of Stefano Conia.

After finishing the school, he left Italy and moved to London where he worked for Malcolm Sadler, Alan Mann, Brian Parkinson and James Black at Ealing Strings, one of the most famous violin shops in the U. K. Later, with Norelle C. Hardy he opened a violin shop right on the famous Portobello Road in London (Cranston Workshop). The other partners involved in this business were Adam Whone, Martin Godliman and Paul Ayers. Charles Beare judged his craftsmanship to be the best, three times, in violinmaking competitions in Newark. The five + years he worked in London were a great experience for him, but there was a lot more to come.

Following the old European tradition of craftsmen working in a number of different shops to gain experience (this is the original meaning of the term' Tour de France', where 'compagnonnages' or itinerant workmen traveled from chapter house to chapter house, learning a craft and meeting fellow craftsmen in French Guilds) he later worked at Jacques Francois's violin shop and with Mosa Havivi in New York City. Afterwards, he worked at famous violin shops in Tokyo (Kanda & Co. ), Boston (Johnson Stringed Instruments), Portland (Paul Schuback Violins), Singapore (Cremona Violin Shop) and Hawaii, before emmigrating to Australia in the 90's.

James has owned other violin shops in the past; in Honolulu, Hawaii, in London as a founding partner of Cranston Violin Shop and in Sydney (Clovelly), Australia.

It's been a thrill for him to have worked on so many fine instruments and bows over the years. Now, he is thrilled to open his own violin shop in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia, and continue his lifes' work here in service to Adelaide's many fine string players and also those from around Australia and the world by taking care of their instruments as well as making many fine sounding new instruments and bows.

For more information, visit http://www. violinplace.com. au /