iLuthier

Warren Nolan-Fordham is a professional violin maker and silversmith who is totally committed both to his vocation and to using Australian Timbers. During the late 1980′s and early 1990′s he lived and worked in Montsalvat, an artists colony in Eltham, Victoria, where his cottage contained his fifteenth century styled workshop, crammed with instruments. He now lives and works from his workshop situated in Preston in Melbourne, where he works long hours, his life utterly dictated by the work pattern of making and repairing. If he goes out it will most likely be to spend time with other instrument makers. He has had a lot of help and encouragement from Kevin Williams – one of Australia’s premiere violin makers – whose knowledge of timber is unsurpassed.

Nolan-Fordham began as a self taught maker, building his first instrument when he was just 15, and was later awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1979 to study in London. Although never an apprentice in any real sense, Nolan-Fordham allied himself with some practising instrument makers in Melbourne. Two who were particularly helpful to him were Colin Cerr, a repairer, and Tom Lewis, a violin maker.

Good tools, it seems, are very difficult to obtain and Nolan-Fordham considers that “part of the concept of making is to have good tools”. He was fortunate enough to buy a collection of vintage handmade tools in an old shop in London and says these are made from much finer steel than is used in today’s mass-produced tools.

Nolan-Fordham believes that part of what makes a violin maker good is an instinctive feeling for timbers, “a feeling for shape and form in the wood”. He also sees the secret of good instrument making as one craftsperson retaining “personal control” over the whole process, distinguishing the so-called “handmade” production-line instruments from those made in small numbers.

He has perfected an instrument which he calls his “soloist” violin, and has orders for as many as he can make.

One of the few violin makers working exclusively in Australian timbers, Nolan-Fordham proudly asserts that they give better results and that he would always use Australian timbers which he feels are “outstandingly better” than, say, the spruce traditionally used. He uses Tasmanian mountain ash or Australian blackwood for the neck, scroll, back and sides, King William pine for the belly and willow for the blocks and linings. He makes new bows and repairs old ones with brumby (wild pony) hair.

Nolan-Fordham has also included native floral designs, eucalyptus leaves, roses and gumnut designs using pyrography on some his ornate instruments.

He prefers the ornate instruments of the Brescian school from the late 1500s to the mid-1750s. Indeed, perhaps eccentrically, he has even adopted the lifestyle of the fifteenth century, saying “I was born 400 years too late”.

You can check out Warren’s official website at www.warren-nolan-fordham.com or contact him at:

Warren Nolan-Fordham
20 Albert Street
Preston, 3072
Melbourne
Australia

Ph: 0425701821

This passage has been updated, but taken largely from the book “Australian Made, Australian Played” by Michael Atherton.

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