Paolo Coriani

Paolo Coriani crafts classical guitars that bridge tradition and innovation. With roots in the Spanish school and refinement from French and scientific influences, his instruments offer rich tone, elegant build, and thoughtful design. Played and prized across Europe, each Coriani guitar reflects decades of expertise and a devotion to refined lutherie.

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Paolo Coriani – Luthier from Italy

Paolo Coriani is an Italian Luthier that started his career in 1975 at the Masetti Workshop in Modena and took an apprenticeship until 1980. Paolo Coriani established his own workshop in 1984, where he built hurdy gurdy as well as classical guitars influenced primarily by Kohno and José Ramirez‘s designs. His career led him to frequent trips to the French, where he met Christian Aubin, a concert guitarist and guitar maker who specialized in making copies of his Torres of 1867. Paolo Coriani described the first Torres guitar he encountered as a guitar with incredible depth of sonority and was amazed by the level of restoration work undertaken on this instrument. The encounter of 1867 Torres was a pivotal moment for Coriani that sparked his interest in Spanish late 19th century instruments and began his research into them in earnest.

His fascination broadened to encompass other guitar-making techniques and develop a proper and comprehensive concept of its construction methods. In Paris, he came into personal contact with the highly crafted work of Daniel Friederich and began to study in detail each stage that goes into the making of an instrument, which gave him a practical insight upon which to base his work. With the help of Richard Schneider and Dr. Michael Kasha, Paolo Coriani was able to fulfill his interest in scientific construction methods.

Paolo Coriani attended a course held by José Luis Romanillos on traditional Spanish classical guitar-making techniques in 1993. His interest again shifted towards traditional methods and Spanish instruments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet, he incorporated a slightly more “scientific” approach gleaned from more “modern” methods.

Paolo Coriani has won numerous awards for his instruments, including 3rd prize in the Bagnacavallo Young Luthiers Competition in 1984 for a hurdy gurdy, 1st prize for a classical guitar at the Bagnacavallo National Competition in 1986, as well as 1st prize and the “Baveno” award at the 1st International Classical Guitar Making Competition in Baveno in 1993.