TOTO FRANCESCO
appuntamento / meeting stringed instruments and bows - IT
Much time is needed to tell the story of one’s life, and maybe these few lines are not the right place to do it. What I can tell you is that I have always nurtured an “artistic need”, ever since I was a child, a need of an art that was and is the pursuit of the essential, even when I didn’t understand it.
At 18, having finished at the “G Pellegrino Institute of Art” in Lecce, I moved to Cremona with the desire to study guitar construction. I attended the “A. Stradivari International School of Violin Making”, where a world of ideas opened for me which drove me to continue my pursuit.
For a brief period I moved to Germany for some experience in instrument restoration, and then returned to Cremona to fine-tune my studies in the production of stringed instruments.
It has been years of passion for the pursuit of the perfect varnish and acoustic result, of trying and refining a thousand times, years in pursuit of the best woods, those with grain and flame which seem to speak, and years of professional comparison and exchange with select historic Cremonese violin making workshops in a continuous flow of life, art and work.
Every day, even now, the diligent pursuit of beauty, of elegant and clean lines, the pursuit which gives each instrument its own strong, personal voice, guides me in my work to create unique instruments.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
- Bronze Medal in the Cello section in the International Competition in Mittenwald – 2001
- Certificate of Merit in the Cello section in the Violin Society of America’s 15th International Competition – 2002
- Honourable Mention and 4th place in the Cello section in the 10th International Triennial Competition of String Instruments in Cremona – 2003
- Silver Medal in the 5th International Competition in Mittenwald – 2005
- Gold Medal and 1st place overall in the Cello section in the 11th International Triennial Competition of String Instruments in Cremona – 2006
- Gold Medal from the “Walter Stauffer” Musicology Centre for the instrument deemed most praiseworthy overall in acoustic terms in the 11th International Triennial Competition of String Instruments in Cremona – 2006
- President of string instrument makers at the CNA small business association in Cremona – from 2013 to present
- Member of the Advisory Board of the Cremona Violin Museum – from 2013 to present
Video
Diamond Violin
The first instrument that you will find in this section is the “Diamond Violin”: a prized instrument that is carved out of 300-year-old wood and features more than 200 diamonds set in little gold and mother of pearl mounts, along with a large Chopard diamond. The instrument is embellished with interwoven, filigreed designs showing floral patterns and a hummingbird.
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| address | Via Palestro, 28 - 26100 Cremona (CR) - IT |
| phone | 0039 0372 32661 |
| mobile | 0039 392 4871666 |
| Francesco Toto - toto@violintrade.com | |
| http://instagram.com/totoviolinmaker?igshid=1afq0eq41518y | |
| web-site | totoviolinmaker.com |
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