History & Origins
" At the origin of NÉVÉOL & Fils , there is the meeting between a vocation as a luthier that I felt since my childhood and the heritage of a family treasure: a recipe for treating wood, the transmission of authentic materials and varnish recipes that are now impossible to find.
My father, Régis Névéol, joined me in 1998 to carry out this adventure.
Since then, we have worked closely together, he on the varnishes and myself on the design, manufacture and adjustment of the instruments.
Mathieu NÉVÉOL
Private archives
Family workshop of Alexandre Minet in 1877
NÉVÉOL & FILS, history in brief
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1510 - Varnishes
Birth in 1510 of Barthélemy Minet, Descendant of a long Bresse family of artisan painters and decorators. Large stocks of colorants and varnish components are built up and stored.
1739 - Wood treatment
Private archives
François David (1739 - 1813), a shipwright in the Gironde region of France, handed down a specific recipe for preserving wood that would be passed down through the generations. The David family shipyard, bearing the SURCOUF emblem, operated in Bourg-sur-Gironde until 1925.
1794 - Instrument making
Private archives
Charles Louis Quesnel, born and died in Paris in the 6th arrondissement, settled in Bordeaux then in Paris as an instrument maker until 1835. He left the family with the memory of a life of adventure.
1802 - The origin of the name Névéol
Théodose Nivéor, born in Bordeaux in Nivose of the year XI of the Republican calendar, is at the origin of another line of the family. Weaver , herbalist, painter, winemaker...the name NÉVÉOL represents a combination of know-how and inventiveness through arts and crafts.
Private archives
July 2022
Discussion around a violin in progress with Abel Névéol aged 102.
1990 - Vocation
At the age of 9, with my grandfather Abel Névéol, I built my first violin and discovered my vocation as a luthier.
1996 - Rare materials
In 1996, I became the heir to a precious reserve of tools, old and rare materials: a treasure composed of ochres, metallic oxides, dyes, galipot and pigments, a Bombay oil from 1911, resins (Venice turpentine, tear mastic, sandragon, rosins...) stored since the end of the 19th century in the family workshop of Armand MINET, my maternal grandfather.
2002 - Indiana University
Diploma from INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF BLOOMINGTON in violin making (Tom Sparks and Dereck Coons studio) and violin (Mauricio Fuks studio)
Private archives
Tom Sparks - violin workshop,
Indiana University, USA
Paul Bickley reporting in Bloom Magazine 2016
2020 - Know-how & Varnish
After my return from the United States, between 2003 and 2020 I created a violin model inspired by Gasparo da Salo and the schools of Brescia and Cremona. Through research, attempts and encounters, I rediscovered the forgotten process of harmonizing string instruments practiced by the old masters.
From our family heritage, at the same time, my father Régis Névéol adapted the recipes for treating wood and dichroic varnish passed down in the family over the generations.
Private archives
Harmonisation d'un violon à l'atelier provençal, Régis et Mathieu Névéol
2023 - The creation of a myth
From a very young age, I had the desire and the will to create a violin with a unique aesthetic and sound. It is from this idea, the fruit of the family heritage of the legendary varnish recipe and a rediscovered harmonization know-how, that the Névéol violin was born.
