Arguably one of the most influential archetiers of the mid-nineteenth century, Dominique Peccatte was born in France’s bow-making capital of Mirecourt, but his first apprenticeship was as a hairdresser. However, in 1826, Nicolas Vuillaume recognized that Peccatte, who was beginning to study violin-making, had potential and sent him to join his brother, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume’s, Paris …
Étienne Pajeot earned a place in music history as one of the best bowmakers of the early nineteenth century. The son of Mirecourt archetier Louis Simon Pajeot, he apprenticed in the family workshop. His father died when Pajeot was 13, but Pajeot continued his training, and by 1815, he had started producing bows under his …
Archetier Marcel Charles Lapierre combined influences from a plethora of workshops in his native Mirecourt. He apprenticed from Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy before joining the Brouiller & Lotte workshop in 1923. When the Brouiller & Lotte collaboration folded, Lapierre continued to work with Lotte. Throughout his career, Lapierre worked for many of Mirecourt’s best archetiers, including Charles …
Victor François Fétique enjoyed the best bow-making training his native Mirecourt had to offer, working for Charles Claude Husson, Sigisbert Maline, Émile Miquel, and Charles Nicolas Bazin. He moved to Paris in 1901 to work for Caressa & Français, where he refined his mature style inspired by his colleague, Claude Thomassin. In 1913, Fétique opened …
Charles Nicolas Bazin descended from a long line of Mirecourt archetiers, so he was well-prepared to inherit the family workshop at the tender age of eighteen. Bazin expanded the business to provide bows to a variety of Paris workshops, including Joseph Hel and Collin-Mézin. Bazin’s early bows were based on the square-head Peccatte model that …
Jules Fétique (1875-1951) was born into a family of Mirecourt bowmakers. He apprenticed under Émile Miquel and Charles Nicolas Bazin before joining his brother, Victor, in Paris in 1902. Fétique initially worked for Eugène Sartory’s workshop, but in 1917, Fétique was hired by Caressa & Français, and he split his time between the two brands. …
Nicolas Maline I Nicolas Maline I (1822-1877) was born into a family of violin- and bowmakers; however, many details of his life remain a mystery, and for a long time, his work was confused with that of his father, Guillaume Maline. Most likely, Maline apprenticed under his father before taking his first job at Étienne …
Born in the legendary violin-making town of Mirecourt, France, Jean-Joseph Martin dove into the local industry after his father’s premature death. He studied bow-making under Nicolas Maire before leaving to work for Jean Baptiste Vuillaume in Paris. With a characteristic drive, twenty-one-year-old Martin, who did not have enough money to travel by coach, walked the …
Eugene Cuniot “Cuniot-Hury” Archetier Eugène Cuniot (1861-1910), better known as “Cuniot-Hury” after his marriage to the daughter of a famed piano maker, is a pivotal figure in France’s bow-making legacy. Born in Mirecourt to archetier Pierre Cuniot, Cuniot-Hury apprenticed under his father and took over the family firm after Cuniot père’s death in 1884. Cuniot-Hury’s …
Joseph Alfred Lamy père (1850-1919) was born in Mirecourt and apprenticed under Claude Charles Nicholas Husson in Mirecourt, learning the Vuillaume-Voirin school of bow-making. At the beginning of his study, Lamy was only twelve years old. He went on to work for the Gautrot instrument factory in Château-Thierry, where Lamy became friends with fellow archetier …
