Upholding the tradition of the luthier

At the age of 15 he made his first violin under the guidance of his father, fell in love with art and studied in Cremona, Italy. Today, from his workshop in Athens, 30-year-old luthier Dimitris Kakos gives life and music to the large family of stringed instruments. “We don’t use power tools here. Everything takes time, it happens slowly,” he tells Kathimerini. In his ground-floor workshop in Galatsi, he continues a tradition that stretches back three centuries to Cremona in northern Italy. Kakos feels that the soul of Niccolo Paganini still survives in the countless shelves and drawers where the tools of his demanding woodcarving are carefully arranged. Spruce and maple are the materials of the luthier. Access to the raw material also explains the development of this art in Cremona, the birthplace of the legendary 17th century luthier Antonio Stradivari. The Paneveggio forest in the Italian Dolomites, the “forest of violins,” is where Stradivari himself sought wood for his marvelous violins. Three hundred years later, Kakos also travels there to buy the necessary raw materials. [Nikos Kokkalias]