THE VIOLIN'S FOREST, 2019

I would like to thank Fabio Ognibeni, founder of the company Ciresa and creator of the crowdfunding to harvest precious tonewoods felled in storms, who supported me throughout this project and guided me through the Violins’ Forest. I also would like to thank Yann Poulain, Nicolas Gilles and Baptiste Jugera, luthiers, who shared their passion with me.

On October 28, 2018, a storm of exceptional violence crossed Italy and ravaged the huge woods of the north of the peninsula, also called the « Violin’s forest ».
The spruce trees that populated the Paneveggio Natural Park and provided the wood of choice for luthiers, were slaughtered massively. Now on the ground, the trees will be totally unusable if they are not picked up quickly. To save as much of this precious wood as possible and to fight the shortage that luthiers worldwide will be facing soon, an urgent recycling of windblown spruces has been organized.
Based in Milan during the year 2018, I heard about this story in the Italian news. After some researches, I realized that in Montpellier, where I lived before, luthiers participate in the fundraising campaign launched after the storm. Between the north of Italy and the south of France, I was able to meet the different actors of this ambitious rescue. Lumberjacks, luthiers, workers, are all united for the same cause: save the trees to make violins, and thus preserve « the music of the future »