Meet Korinthia Klein

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Korinthia Klein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Korinthia, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

I try to be generous in both my business and personal life. This comes from an awareness of how arbitrary fortune is. I am unbelievably lucky to have been born into the family I have that loves and supports me, in a time and place where as a woman I have options, and in a stable circumstance that has given me the opportunity to learn and grow. I’m relatively healthy and my skin color doesn’t present me with additional obstacles. I had control over none of these things, and I don’t get to pretend I have earned all I have. I work hard, and I strive every day to put something positive into the world, but I never want to settle into a sense of entitlement. Any of our lives can be changed in an instant. I do my best to give the people the benefit of the doubt, because I don’t know their story or their struggles. In business, this translates into seldom looking at my work from the angle of money first. My goal is to support myself and my family and to help people in my community find joy in playing the violin. Sometimes that means donating my services to people who can’t afford them, or waiving rental fees for people in a rough spot. Many times the choices I make to be generous are also justifiable business decisions. For instance, most shops don’t provide professional grade strings on their rental instruments because it’s expensive, but I want those instruments to sound nice, not just for the enjoyment of the players but for our shop’s reputation. Ultimately those choices help me sleep better at night because they help people. And I am lucky to be in a position to help.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a luthier who owns and operates a small violin shop in Milwaukee WI. I build violins and violas at home, and in our store we do violin repairs, sales, and rentals. I am proud that I’ve been able to provide for my family doing creative work, and helping people in our community make music. After years of working in other people’s shops, I’m still excited to have a space to run in the way that most appeals to me. I also perform on both viola and mandola in local orchestras, and I write.

Building and repairing violins is detailed, fascinating work, that helps place me in a tradition that requires I look both to the past and the future to do it well. As a woman, I am in a minority in my field, but I’m excited to see that evolving. One of the most profound changes in recent years to the way I view my work, came from the emergence of the Women In Lutherie group. Born out of the pandemic, the group formed to help women who make and repair stringed instruments connect online in a protected space, and it has been life altering. When I was invited to join the group there were maybe a dozen of us. Now there are over 800 from around the world. They’ve helped me learn new techniques and try new methods, but more importantly to stop being afraid to show what I do. When the group started posting pictures of members’ work, I got up the nerve to submit a picture of a scroll I was carving. I was concerned the maker I was sending it to would be critical of it because I admire her work very much. When I told her that, she said her first thought when she saw my scroll was that she would never make one as good. She reminded me that as much as I am always looking up at the work of others in order to learn how to improve, others in an earlier stage are looking up to me. I’m no longer reluctant to post what I do, because I see it as a way to educate others, and to get useful feedback.

I recently had my work on display in a touring show called Celebrating Women Luthiers. As part of that event, I participated in a panel discussion in New York about being a woman in this field. I’m excited to find ways to make lutherie more diverse. My violins in the show were instruments I’d built for my daughters. I want to be an example to them and others that there are ways to pursue what interests you while contributing to a larger community.

I love making instruments. I love getting to perform on a viola I built. I love writing books that draw on different areas of my knowledge. I am a very fortunate person and I don’t take that for granted.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I am creative, focused, and adaptable.

I like solving problems and building things with my hands. I believe any skill pursued with intention achieves the same lessons in the end. The things I learned about myself and how to improve were the same in martial arts as they were in viola playing. No time is wasted learning something with seriousness, even if you eventually leave that particular activity behind for something new. It’s all related.

I grew up with a practical take on pursuing your dreams. Everyone should get to do what they love, but that doesn’t require you make a living doing it, and there is no single path or destination. Making a living early on as a musician for me meant not only playing in regional orchestras, but teaching, and running my own string quartet. I can’t make a living on my writing, but I still pursue it with seriousness because I enjoy it. I think of it as my vocation because it’s something I feel called to do. Lutherie is a field where I have managed to find enough financial success to support my family, but even if I had to work a more conventional job to pay the bills, I would still make violins.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

My biggest challenge has always been finding enough time in my day to do all the things I want to do, particularly when it comes to pursuing creative projects while caring for my family. Lutherie is a male-dominated field, and when I attend conferences I am often approached by younger women who ask how I have been able to build violins once I had children. This question always amuses and frustrates me, because no one ever asks it of a man. The advice I always give is to carve out regular blocks of time for doing what you love, and to be ruthless about protecting it. Even with small children at home, it’s not too much to ask for an hour to yourself in your shop. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, but when I’m not as productive as I would like to be, I make a point to get into my home shop for at least ten minutes a day. Even if all I do is sharpen a knife or organize things on my bench, once I”m in my private space I’m headed in the right direction.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.korinthianviolins.com/
• Instagram: @korinthiaklein
• Facebook: korinthia klein
• Other: http://the-quiet-corner.blogspot.com/

  https://www.korinthiaklein.com/

Image Credits

Korinthia A. Klein