On a table next to the window, a dismantled violin rests on a pile of wood shavings. Clad in a blue apron, apprentice luthier Caridwen Spatz works to transform the unlovely school instrument into something that just might make beautiful music.

As Spatz labored, she was surrounded by new and restored instruments at Violin Works in the heart of the Garland business district. Owner James Kytonen opened the store five years ago.

So how does a former student of clinical psychology end up making violins?

“Really bad luck,” Kytonen said with a wry grin.

He grew up loving music and began playing guitar at age 6. Several years ago, he was one of only four people building Celtic harps in the United States.

“There’s not much market for Celtic harps,” he said. “We had to create a market.”

While attending Eastern Washington University, Kytonen began repairing school instruments at a shop in Spokane Valley.

There, he met Gene Cole, a noted luthier. “We just hit it off,” said Kytonen. “I had an informal apprenticeship with him. I still do.”

Through Cole’s mentoring, Kytonen trained in the German tradition of instrument restoration. He soon focused his attention on crafting violins instead of Celtic harps.

“What lured me away was the art of this,” he said, gesturing at a beautiful specimen nestled in a glass case. “Each violin has a story.”

Indeed, the gleaming burnished-wood instruments displayed throughout the store seem more like pieces of art than musicians’ tools.

The mathematical precision of the craft coupled with its creativity made this business a perfect fit for Kytonen.♣

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