Tan Chin Seng, a 45-year-old craftsman from Malaysia, has made an outsized impact. He is rightfully proud to be hailed as the country’s first professional violin maker. His path into the world of luthiery hasn’t been a typical one. It begins miles away from the music studios and workshops that were recently his life’s cornerstones.
Originally Tan had earned a degree in computer science and helped run his family’s food enterprise. A serendipitous research trip to China in 2010 catalyzed his transition to violin-making. In reality, he was there to arrange restoration for a very old and valuable violin. This experience introduced him to the detail and nuance that goes into the craft. It ignited a passion that would send his career in an unexpected direction. After returning to Malaysia, he opened a music school with his brother, plunging full into the sea of music.
Interestingly, Tan is not a violinist himself, but his love for the art form fuels his desire to craft the highest-quality instruments possible. He undertook an apprenticeship with renowned Chinese instrument maker Han Zhao Sheng, dedicating himself to mastering the skills necessary for violin-making. Over the past decade, Tan has garnered international acclaim for his craftsmanship, producing around ten instruments each year in his Kuala Lumpur studio.
Tan’s workshop is both a think tank and a sweat shop, a space filled with over a dozen luthiers deeply committed to quality and beauty. In it, he shares that he’s passionate about every single step of the craft of making violins. It incorporates woodworking, carpentry, artistry, chemistry, acoustics and physics—all aspects that intrigue him. And then taking wood and turning it into musical instruments, that’s phenomenal.”
His dedication goes beyond the individual craft, as Tan has played a key role in training a new generation of violin makers. Chan Song Jie, Malaysia’s first female luthier, pictured above, is among those he has inspired. As a conservator, she zealously advances the legacy of this delicate, purposeful, art form.
We are all crazy, all the luthiers in this workshop are all crazy. We just love our work too much,” Tan states, emphasizing the enthusiasm that fuels their collective efforts. Though he recognizes the difficulty that comes along with being an artist, he points out that every instrument calls for countless hours of love. Currently, in the classroom, we have seven workbenches, so they’re all filled. This is done endlessly because it is never fully done, like your car, which you can wash every single day.
“At first, it was just that I find it really interesting, why not just make one violin? It’s just that after completing the first violin, I knew this craft is for me, and I like it a lot.”
