Wim Raymaekers

Wim Raymaekers (b1958) studied art history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Louvain) and violin making at the Centrum voor Muziekinstrumentenbouw in Puurs (Belgium). After having worked with violin maker Pascal Gilis in Brussels, he started his own workshop in Louvain in 1995. From 2004 to 2006 he was responsible for the restoration of the string instruments of the Museum Vleeshuis in Antwerp, newly opened as a music museum in 2006. From 2012 to 2017 he has been teaching violin making, organology and restoration techniques at the School of Arts of the University College Ghent (Belgium). From 2018 on he worked as a scientific researcher for the MIM in Brussels. He lives near Louvain, where he plays music and manages a collection of guitars and historical string instruments for educational purposes. His interest in violin iconography dates back from his student days, and in 1989 he published his first of many scientific articles on the matter in Dutch.