Medaglia (Enrico Medaglia)

Medaglia is the name of a very small-scale handmade pipe output that Italian string-instrument maker Enrico Medaglia signs under his own name. Medaglia's primary trade is not pipes but instruments; pipes developed over the years as a second pursuit added alongside the bench of his own workshop. For this reason the brand is regarded less as a commercial pipe firm than as a signature under which a limited number of pieces from a single hand are gathered.

The Master and His Workshop

Enrico Medaglia was born in Milan on May 11, 1962. He graduated from the "Antonio Stradivari" International School of Violin Making in Cremona in 1980; during his studies he trained under leading masters of the period, chief among them Giobatta Morassi and Francesco Bissolotti. After graduating he worked for a time at Morassi's bench in Cremona, then in Lodi and Milan, before finally settling in Padua. His current workshop, called Liuteria Veneta, carries out the making and protective repair of violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and violas da gamba, as well as bow making, repair, and rehairing.

This background also explains the nature of his pipes. Instrument making is a craft that demands fine measurement, reading the grain of the wood, and hand finishing; the same habits are held to carry over into briar as well.