TRANSCRIPT:
Standing at a workbench in his studio in Kuala Lumpur, Tan Chin Seng tunes a violin he has just finished making.
The 45-year-old is Malaysia’s first professional violin maker.
For Tan, creating the instruments from raw wood is a labour of artistry and love.
“Everything about the process, you know, there is woodworking, carpentry, artistic thing, there is chemistry, acoustics, physics, everything about violin-making I like it. Also turning wood into musical instruments is just amazing.”
Traditionally, luthiers - makers of string instruments like violins and cellos - are associated with Europe, where masters like Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri shaped the modern violin.
But the craft has spread globally, with thriving communities of luthiers in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Now, in his warmly-lit studio cluttered with chunks of wood, chisels and jars of varnishes, Tan is nurturing the tradition in his own country - his workshop now making around 10 instruments a year.
“Right now, in the workshop, there is seven workbench, so they are all occupied. This takes forever, because it is never complete, just like your car, you can polish every day.”
As a computer science graduate who doesn’t play the violin, Tan’s path to violin-making was unconventional.
He was helping in his family’s food business and co-owned a music school in 2010, when he made a trip to China to have an ageing violin restored.
The trip sparked Tan's fascination with the craft, and led him to undergo an apprenticeship with Chinese instrument maker Han Zhao Sheng.
“At first, it was just that I find it really interesting, why not just make one violin? It's just that after completing the first violin, I knew this craft is for me, and I like it a lot and yeah.”
Tan flew back and forth to Beijing for more training, then travelled to Italy to study the craft further.
Over the past decade, Tan has earned international accolades for his craftsmanship, and now, he mentors a new generation of makers.
While most of his students are musicians and young people, Tan says few pursue it as a trade due to the demands of the craft, and the domestic market still being small.
Still, some have followed in Tan's footsteps, including Chan Song Jie, Malaysia's first female luthier.
Tan says those who have decided to pursue the craft professionally make up a small but dedicated community, and one he hopes will continue to grow.
“We are all crazy, all the luthiers in this workshop are all crazy. We just love our work too much.”
