Charles Espey

The son of an American ship’s captain Charles Espey was raised in Singapore and Djakarta.

During his twenties he pursued visual arts, ultimately working as a photographer and graphic designer. In 1979 after a  chance meeting with Robert Shallock he developed a fascination with bows and worked as bow restorer at the David Saunders violin shop in Seattle. In 1980 he moved to France and lacking the possibility of a formal apprenticeship he befriended the former students of Bernard Ouchard who were currently working in Paris. Sharing ideas and workshop space with a number of makers over the years, notably working in Stephane Thomachot’s workshop, he was able to absorb the French methodology. Bernard Millant’s support and willingness to critique his work was also valuable.

At this time Espey restored bows for the dealer Roger Giraudon who gave him an opportunity work on bows by the great makers of the French tradition. Also the collector Jean Trible was a frequent visitor to the Thomachot workshop and exposure to his knowledge and collection was pivotal. Espey worked in in Paris until 1986 when he moved his workshop to Seattle and subsequently to Port Townsend, Washington where he currently makes bows for an international clientele. Over the years a number of his students, among them Cody Kowalski, Ole Kanestrom, Robert Morrow, Noel Burke and Mitsuaki Sasano, have achieved high standards of excellence.

During the 1980s, Espey spent months studying the regional varieties of Pau-brasil or Pernambuco wood in Brazil. A growing awareness of Pau-brasil’s diminishing habitat led to his development of conservative milling practices. His ongoing work to the present has contributed to the creation and documentation of replanting projects in Brazil as well.