The Company
Westerlunds Violinverkstad AB is a growing family business, where the main function is the making of violins, violas and celli. The shop is situated in Västerås, and employs Peter Westerlund, violin maker and Irene Westerlund, administrator.
During his 40 years as a violin maker, up to April 2025, Peter Westerlund has built 458 instruments, including violins, violas and cellos. He has thus built the most instruments in Swedish history, surpassing Johan Öberg who built approximately 390 instruments during his lifetime.
Peter's instruments are sold all over the world, from USA to Australia. Customers have even sold or exchanged their instruments made by well-reputed old or modern masters to own a Westerlund instrument instead.
For his outstanding contributions as a violin maker, Peter has been awarded H.M. The King's Medal, 5th size with a high blue ribbon. Peter is self-taught and during his 40 years in the business he has constantly sought information and inspiration over the years. He has discovered new methods to make his instruments as good-sounding and beautiful as possible.
Being self-taught has for him been a big advantage and a prerogative over schooled makers to think freely, which has led him to develop a completely unique building style that he is happy to share.
This has resulted in a YouTube video series of over 100 videos, where he generously shares his discoveries and knowledge over the years. The feedback from violin makers around the world has been overwhelming and very positive.
Peter's instruments have participated in several blind tests, where he has been chosen to the be the best. Despite this, Peter's goal with his building has never been to achieve stardom. Instead, he is driven by a deep love for making instruments and aims for each new instrument to be his best yet.
Peter sees the creation of antiqued instruments as an opportunity to make each opus unique. A well-executed antiquing contributes to a good feeling when opening the case, something that Peter values highly.
Ensuring the customer's complete satisfaction with the purchase of a Westerlund instrument is of utmost importance to Peter. He believes in treating customers as he would like to be treated himself. Therefore, it is important that the instruments are auditioned by a professional musician before they are handed over to the customer. The customer is then offered a 14-day trial period to decide on the purchase.
Peter's dedication to his craft and his principles of quality and customer satisfaction mean that each Westerlund instrument is a masterpiece, created with care and passion.
Irene started working at Westerlunds Violinverkstad AB in 1996 and is responsible for the company's administration.
She was previously employed by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency in Avesta from 1980 to 1997. During these years, she was involved in various areas within the organization. In her last years, she held the position of assistant director and personnel accountant, where her responsibilities included the compilation and payment of salaries, handling contract and personnel administration issues, training administration and invoice management for the Avesta/Hedemora area. She also took an active part in the budget work.
In 1996, Irene began to take care of the bookkeeping for Westerlunds Violinverkstad AB. On December 2, 1997, she moved to a full-time position at Westerlunds Violinverkstad AB, where she is responsible for all administration, financial management and the company's website.
During the period 1998-2003, Irene and Peter arranged weekend seminars for Sweden's professional violin and language makers. Read more about the weekend classes
Since the workshop is integrated with the home, we do not use particular business hours, but meet according to arrangements made over the phone.
