About Us

Laura Clement Wallace

The daughter of a woodworker, Laura grew up watching the transformation of tree by hand and tool. She began playing the violin as a child and developed a deep love not only for the music, but for the instrument itself. It was a natural fit to combine her love of woodworking and music and pursue a career in violin making. After a brief detour earning a biology degree at the University of Victoria, Laura met Kim Tipper, a restorer and maker of violins. Kim is renowned for his impeccable set-up and attention to detail. She began training with Kim in 2006, studying all areas of violin repair, restoration and bow rehairing. Laura went on to work with Brian Hoover and continues to learn from and share knowledge with colleagues in the Violin Society of America, The Makers Forum, and Women in Lutherie, along with her longtime colleagues from Victoria, Galen Hartley and Travis Short. Laura now divides her time between repairing old violins and building new ones. She has been the luthier in residence for Fiddleworks for more than a decade, and is the in-house luthier for PRISMA. She is inspired by the natural beauty and expansiveness outside her shop where she lives at the edge of the wilderness on the Sunshine Coast of BC.

Brigitte Ouellet

True to her Acadian roots, Brigitte has been playing the fiddle since she was five years old. She made her way to the Sunshine Coast by wearing many hats – performer, farm hand, wildfire fighter, forest technologist, baker, home bike mechanic, violin teacher, early childhood music educator – and now finds herself very lucky to commute to the shop on a forest trail through her backyard. Brigitte is currently on leave for a grand European adventure. She is still sneaking in some administrative work from afar, and of course playing her custom 5-string Wallace violin.