The Dorfler family has been an active participant in the IPCI conservation efforts to protect Pernambuco for bow making.  Multiple generations of their family have grown up building bows in their workshops from the Sudetenland in Germany.  The “sap wood” bows are their effort to nudge musicians along in the move to more sustainable use of Pernambuco.  Traditionally, sap wood was rejected for aesthetic reasons.  Sap wood refers to the outer layers of Pernambuco which do not have the rich reddish color of the tree’s core.

The mixture of cream-colored wood with the darker red was considered an imperfection and the wood was rejected.  Given the endangered status of Pernambuco, the Dorfler family encourages musicians to change their aesthetic eye.  Incorporating the cream color into our color palette will enable Dorfler and other bow makers to use a larger portion of a tree’s wood without sacrificing quality.  The Dorfler workshop beginning with student level bows, the generation for whom sustainability will have the most impact.