Eliane is a fourth generation woodworker. Her father’s carpentry workshop being adjacent to the family home, she became familiar with wood and with the tools of the trade at an early age. She also showed an early interest in music, beginning violin lessons at age six. She later enrolled in a music-oriented school program where she continued her musical studies.

After two years of college studies focusing on violin performance and musicology, she decided to pursue her long-standing interest in violin making and enrolled in the Cremona International Violin Making School in Italy where she earned an Operatore di liuteria diploma. Three years later, she obtained 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.

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. She has been a guest instructor at the Oberlin restoration workshop on several occasions.

Eliane first joined the Reuning & Son team as a restorer in 2013. Alongside her distinguished colleagues, she carried out a wide variety of restoration projects on exceptional instruments. In 2019, she established her own restoration studio, based in Boston. She is also an accomplished bladesmith and forges both culinary knives and tools of the trade in her own studio.

Eliane is re-joining the Reuning & Son Violins team in 2023 as head restorer of our New York City workshop.