2022 Fellowships
International Women In Lutherie Fellowship
Nurturing Tomorrow’s Leaders, Strengthening Today’s Community
Our 3-month mentorship program encourages emerging talents to build leadership skills, technical skills, and knowledge –both on and off the bench– creating deeper, more meaningful connections among women in lutherie.
Fellows
María José Peláez Aguirre
Nina Poots
Sofía Johnston Suárez
Anna Jaklin
Natasha Sealey-Worrell
Hilary Brady Morris
Amber Van Hessche
Federica Pinelli
Getsemaní Vite Hernández
Sara Betania Cohen Sánchez
Camille Perbost
Mentors
Lyn Hardy
Melenahe Martin
Ana Espinosa Rodriguez
Paris Andrew
Elizabeth Vander Veer Shaak
Mary Jane Kwan
Renate Fink
Kathleen Thomas
Ruth Obermayer
Robyn Sullivan
Tanja Hidde
22 women participated this year: eleven Fellows and eleven Mentors, matched in one-on-one pairings, alongside group meetings for team-building and peer support.
Fellows also be traveled to complete a hands-on internship with a Mentor for workshop experience.The ultimate goal of the Fellowship is to nourish positive relationships among the women in the field & providing professional development opportunities to raise more women up to the leadership positions in the field.
2022 Fellowship Recipients
Hilary Brady Morris – United States
Himalayan Lute Specialist, Scholar, 2022
From Arkansas and Ireland, Hilary Brady Morris is a Himalayan lute specialist, a novice luthier, and an apprentice musical instrument repair person. On a Fulbright scholarship, she conducted a year of dissertation fieldwork on Himalayan lutes in Nepal. She has also just completed a two-year research fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she studied their Himalayan—and other—lutes and their construction methods. She also facilitated The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s acquisition of a rare 19th-century lute from Ladakh. She loves that her work makes use of a scholar's mind, a maker's hands, an artist's eyes, and a musician's ears.
Getsemaní Vite Hernández – Mexico
Anna Magdalena Jaklin – Austria
Guitar and Violin Maker
An experimental archaeologist from Austria who's love of music has led her into lutherie.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? " getting to know the community of the wonderful women in lutherie, and my fellow fellows who are on this journey into lutherie"
María José Peláez Aguirre – Mexico / United States
Guitar and Folk String Maker and Repairer
Originally hailing from Xalapa Veracruz, María José now splits her time between Mexico and the US, where she makes and repairs guitars and Latin American Folk Strings. An enthusiast of knitting, crocheting, and weaving as well as playing and dancing folk music, María José loves to work with her hands, come up with creative solutions – and to hear the instruments she has created. María José is proud to run a successful shop that lets her live off of something she loves to do.
Camille Perbost – France
Violinmaker
Born and raised in a family of musicians, Camille always showed a sensibility for music and arts. Curious by nature, she first pursued scientific academic studies before retraining in the violin making field.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "I am grateful to be part of such an inspiring and empowering community. I am also curious about meeting well-established female luthiers who can give me first-hand guidance on the field. This will be my first international lutherie experience, so it is all very exciting!"
Federica Pinelli – Italy
Nina Poots – Scotland
Violinmaker
A luthier and art educator from the Netherlands, Nina is settled in her workshop in beautiful Glasgow. Away from the bench, Nina also plays double bass and enjoys creative journaling
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? " I'm most excited about the opportunity to learn from someone who's been in the trade for many years. It is wonderful when women come together and pass knowledge along to the next generation, it inspires me to also pass along everything I'm learning in this wonderful craft."
Sara Betania Cohen Sánchez – Spain / United States
Violin Restorer
Sara began her studies in 2017 in Bilbao, Spain, and now lives in Ibiza, where she focuses on violin-family instrument restoration. She loves to bring pieces of history back to life and give an instrument a second chance. Looking ahead, Sara is planning on pursuing a more research-based, conservation-focused style of restoration, as well as a greener approach to her work. When not restoring instruments, Sara loves to make historically-inspired clothing, and to learn every single craft she can lay her hands on.
Natasha Sealey-Worrell – Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Archetier, Pianist
In 2015, as a performing arts student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, Natasha was given the opportunity to participate in a workshop conducted by Luthiers Sans Frontieres USA (LSF-USA), where she learned and developed a love for the craft of bow restoration and re-hairing. Natasha decided to get further training and pursue this career, and she has since then established her own workshop (N.S.W. Bow Restorations and Re-hairs) and is the only person in the country with formal training in this area of Lutherie.
Sofía Johnston Suarez – Spain / United Kingdom
Guitar Maker
A personal tragedy took Sofía to immerse herself in guitar making, and after completing the first instrument, Sofía fell in love with the craft and decided to pursue a career in lutherie. Sofía is now interested in continuing to pursue making and restoration of nylon and gut string guitars and with particular interest in traditional decorative components.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "Since finding the WIL page, I have loved looking through the photos of the incredible work that is shown, and I am continually inspired by the talent and creativity of the women in this group. I am excited to be part of this emerging creative project and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to connect and learn from this wider international community of luthiers."
Amber Van Hessche – Belgium
Violinmaker
A student in Ghent who had already interned in Paris, Amber also plays the cello and enjoys painting and reading.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "Going abroad to learn new skills in violin making, meeting new people with different views or visions. I am excited and looking forward to learning from each other and getting inspired!"
2022 Mentors
Paris Andrew – Italy and United Kingdom
Luthier, Teacher
After a start in lutherie in harpsichord repair and restoration, Paris retrained in the making and repair of violin family instruments in London. After several years in the big city she relocated to Florence, Italy where she enjoys making new instruments in a shared workshop with her colleagues and friends, teaching at the local lutherie school, and mastering Italian cooking and working in her garden.
Ana Espinosa Rodriguez – Spain
Guitar Maker
Ana Espinosa Rodriguez is a Spanish luthier in Granada, and builds classical and flamenco guitars. She was born in Tíjola, Almeria, in 1960 from an early age she was exposed to woodcrafts, as her grandfather was a cabinet maker, and her parents worked in his workshop. Attending university, she majored in geography and history. After her B.A., she studied fine arts at the Escuela de Arte de Granada, becoming a weaver.
Renate Fink – Germany
Viol Maker and Restorer
A viol-making expert in Germany who also enjoys restoration of violin-family instruments
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "To meet a young maker who has a keen interest in violin and viol making and hopefully being able to give her a bit of support at the beginning of her way of becoming a fellow maker."
Lyn Hardy – United States
Guitar, Mandolin, and Banjo Restoration
Lyn is a fretted instrument repairer and restorer based out of Woodstock, NY.
Tanja Hidde – Germany
Violin Restorer
Tanja Hidde co-runs a workshop for violin making in the artist quarter of Friedenau, where she focuses on repair, restoration and sound adjustment of stringed instruments. Because she makes her own music, she always focuses on sound and good playability as well as the interaction between player and instrument.
Mary Jane Kwan – United States
Violin Maker
Originally from Austin Texas, MJ now lives in Brooklyn. MJ began her lutherie pursuits in architecture school, building a guitar in the evening hours of the woodshop, before eventually enrolling in a violinmaking school. MJ loves the balance of physical labor and mental stimulation, and is proud to share nerd skills like math, CAD, data analysis, and illustration with our community – check out her Fingerboard Survey & Analysis! As her career advances, she’ll continue developing data analysis for instrument making, and facilitating ongoing information exchange. MJ loves to host chamber music brunches in her newly remodeled kitchen.
Melenahe Martin – United States
Luthier and Sculpter
A luthier and artist based in Baltimore who also carves wooden sculptures, works with clay and pottery and nourishes plants.
Ruth Obermeyer – Germany / Spain
Violin Maker
Born in Munich into a family of musicians, Ruth knew she wanted to be a violin maker when she was just 13. She started training in Munich, eventually graduating from the Mittenwald School of Violin Making. Ruth opened her own workshop in Granada in 2005 and continued learning and researching on the acoustics of making a violin, participating in the Villefavard research group headed by the Sorbonne scientist Claudia Fritz. Ruth is a proud mother of three, and enjoys singing in the local choirs in her spare time.
Robyn Sullivan – United States
Violin Restorer
A creative from an early age, she enjoys art, clay work and sewing as well as lutherie. She discovered lutherie as a teen and is now a passionate professional working in Washington dedicated to the preservation of historical instruments.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "I am most excited about sharing and learning. I look forward to teaching whatever Sara is most interested in developing and I look forward to how teaching will help me clarify my own processes. I am also looking forward to learning from Sara. Everyone has their own approach and thought process and I love learning how to approach a project in a new or different way."
Kathleen Thomas – Italy
Kathleen, originally from Canada, studied in England and after working in Toronto now lives, works and explores in the beautiful Perugia area of Italy. In her free time she loves to travel or be outside hunting for truffles in the woods with the family dog Charlie.
What are you most excited about for this year's fellowship? "I'm excited about meeting Federica, and hopefully meeting up with other female makers in Italy. We're going to be making rib structures. I'm sure my understanding of how it works will improve, as well as my vocabulary for Italian woodworking! We will both be using an inner mould for the rib structure, which is how I learnt. And I'm also looking forward to seeing how an outer mould works, as I've never tried."
Elizabeth Vander Veer Shaak – United States
Archetier
Elizabeth trained as a bowmaker in New York, Paris, and Brussels. After gaining professional experience in other shops, Elizabeth went on to establish her own Bow Studio of Philadelphia in 1985. In 2003 she established Mount Airy Violins & Bows in honor of the shop’s present neighborhood, and has been committed to creating an actively community-centered violin shop. Elizabeth has also been continuing her craft attending the Oberlin Bowmakers Workshop for over 19 years. Elizabeth plays traditional French, Swedish and old-time fiddle.
2022 Organizing Team
Program Director – Jeemin Kim
Administrator & Mentors Liaison – Sarah Peck
Fellows Liaison – Pamela Laizure
Tech Support – Michele Bartos
Paris Andrew
Katherine Kidwell
Ruth Obermayer