Fauxberlin Restoration Workshop
2024
Eliane Leblanc
Restorer / Instructor
With a background in violin performance and musicology, Eliane enrolled in the Cremona International Violin Making School in Italy and obtained an Operatore di liuteria diploma. Three years later, she earned an Arts & Crafts Master Diploma (DMA), with honors, at the Mirecourt School of Violin Making in France.
After graduating Mirecourt, Eliane was honored to join luthier Pierre Caradot in his Paris atelier. Caradot’s premier clientèle and his expertise as a former workshop manager of the late Etienne Vatelot allowed her to hone her skills and perform both simple repairs and complex restorations on fine instruments. In a shop where everything is done in close partnership with musicians, she spent considerable time listening to instruments, exchanging ideas with players and exploring tone-adjustment possibilities. From 2013 through 2019, Eliane was employed as a restorer at Reuning & Son violins in Boston, Massachusetts, where she carried out a wide variety of restoration projects. She established her own restoration studio, in Boston, in 2019.
Being aware that the highest levels of violin making and restoration can best be achieved through the exchange of knowledge, Eliane works in close collaboration with both colleagues of the trade and specialists in related fields. She makes it a priority to constantly explore new techniques and materials, always looking for better and more conservative approaches to restoration work. Eliane is also an accomplished bladesmith, and forges both culinary knives and tools of the trade in her own studio
She re-joined the Reuning & Son team in 2023 as head restorer of their NYC workshop.