Statement on Sustainability

What sort of world do you want to live in? One filled with music, of course, because music is the expression of our individual and collective souls…it is the ultimate artistic statement of our humanity. We want our voices to be heard and the music we make to contribute to our community.  Our local community and our global community. To use an over-used expression: we want our music to make the world a better place.

For musicians, our instruments are our voices. If you are a singer, your vocal cords are your instruments, for the rest of us, we use creative devices to make our music, to express the deepest sentiments of our existence. Our violins. Our Violas. Our Cellos. Our Basses. We use these to make the world a better place.

We are here to support this. We build, repair, and service in all manner instruments so that you can create music. We support you. We support music. We support our planet.

But we want our musical voices to be heard now and forever. We do not want our music-making to be finite.  We work for the infinite. We want our instruments to sustain music far longer than we will personally be around to enjoy it.

So, Vermont Violins and V. Richelieu ™ values sustainability. Perhaps another over-used word but one we like as it infers that music should sustain us as it sustains our planet. 

What does sustainability mean to us? It means working in ways that protects, conserves, and preserves the resources that make music possible. It means working in ways that…

  • …support young, next-generation, artists.

  • …support financially challenged people wanting to make music.

  • …uses materials that are eco-friendly and not in limited supply.

  • …uses materials that support conservation efforts internationally.

  • …supports our staff to ensure that their world is healthy and fulfilling.

  • …supports local music education and performance opportunities.

  • …keep old instruments alive for future generations to use.

  • …supports a world that lives silently enough to hear the music.  To live in peace.

And so much more.

If your instrument is made from endangered species, uses illegally harvested woods, is made in a factory that is abusive or unsafe, or is sold under false pretense than your musical voice is suppressed. The world is not made a better place and the musical expression is sedated.  We strive for uplift. We strive for joy.

To be sustainable, Vermont Violins and our V. Richelieu ™ instruments:

  • Utilize sustainably harvested woods sourced from reliable, legal sources in Europe and America that value the forests are responsibly harvested;

  • Utilize non-ebony alternative woods in fingerboards, tailpieces, nuts, and saddle like GaiaTone and Sonowood. GaiaTone is 100% postconsumer recycled paper with a bio (non-petroleum) resin and Sonowood is compressed woods from sustainable species like Spruce, maple, and Beech.

  • We serve on the boards, and otherwise support efforts, of environmental organizations to help national and international efforts to use sustainable materials and restrict use of illegal or poor forestry.

  • We support financially and serve on boards of Arts organizations in our community to foster a community that supports music.

  • We offer financial aid to assist families struggling to make music a part of their lives.  We create creative financing to further widen accessibility to fine instruments.

  • We maintain a safe and supportive environment for our employees and invest to make their lives better so that they can in turn make music available to all.

  • We educate to share what we have learned.

  • We seek education to broaden our understanding.

We are not perfect, and our mission of sustainability is, and will forever be, aspirational.  But we ask you to consider how your purchasing power can be leveraged to support businesses like ours that strive to maintain a dual bottom line: financial durability along with a working ethos that seeks community durability.  Join us in the effort to make the world a better place.