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Kevin SERGE Basle

Luthier

Kevin grew up in the small countryside town of Chateau-Gontier in the Loire Valley Region, east of Brittany. Having no musical background aside from varied listening experiences, nothing would have suggested he would have become a violin maker.

 

“My father had a little room in our already tiny apartment where he would make furniture for the house from reclaimed wood found here and there. They were beautiful pieces which worked very well. As a child I was fascinated my father could create such things from scrap and this is what likely triggered my love for wood!”

 Initially, Kevin was aiming for a career designing kitchens.

"My mum was an incredible cook but she could never afford to have a decent kitchen fitted. I promised her I would build her one!"

Two years of carpentry led to his first diploma. This was followed up with a further two years of joinery to expand his skillset. Initially this work led to building staircases and general furniture, but after some time, more refined skills such as wood-turning and cabinet making were gained.

Kevin is a self-taught guitarist and after repairing his mothers guitar following a breakage, he had the idea of applying his woodworking skills to the repair of musical instruments.

“I started to wonder if I could make a living by fixing instruments... The Internet told me that it was indeed! But there is only one school per country that teaches it.”

His desire to leave France and learn another language and culture meant looking abroad, and this led him to the United Kingdom. In 2011, at the age of 19, he enrolled at the Newark School of Guitar Making and constructing acoustic guitars in the traditional Spanish method. Two years later, he qualified with a Distinction.

 

During this time, he had become fascinated with the construction and repair of violin. He enrolled at the Newark School of Violin Making, where his guitar experience proved valuable. There, he learnt to make violins from scratch but also to repair them which he was very interested in, he qualified from NSVM in 2016 and have since been working for different workshops in France and in England, he settled in Birmingham as a restorer/repairer and have been working on his own violins in his spare time aside his job, always with the aim of becoming a better maker, improving after every instrument.

“No luthier can truly say they have no room for improvement. That’s exactly what makes this job so interesting; there is always something new to learn”

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In January 2018 Kevin left his job to start his own business, first named “K.S.B. Lutherie” for “Kevin Serge Basle Lutherie”, staying in Birmingham where his business worked in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and other youth music schools within the Midlands. He recently relocated to South Brent, Devon in June 2021 and renamed his business to “Dartmoor Violins”.

“We fell in love with Dartmoor, it is the reason why we decided to move here in the first place and make a family, it makes sense to name my business after it as we live on the National Park ”


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