F.N. VOIRIN octagonal cello bow, silver, 73.1g, Salchow certificate | Metzler Violins

After his initial training and early work in Mirecourt, François Nicolas Voirin moved to Paris in 1855 to join his cousin Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. His work in the Vuillaume workshop gave him access to distinguished bow makers of the Peccatte school, but Voirin was inspired largely by the work of Pierre Simon and of Vuillaume himself. Most of the firm's "picture" bows of this period, which feature an eye with a tiny lens microfilm of Vuillaume, are by Voirin.

In 1870 Voirin set up his own workshop and gradually his model began to change. Frogs continue to be in the style of Vuillaume, but heads are increasingly thin and refined for the rest of his career, which is an unusual transition for a bowmaker. In fact, Voirin's stylistic evolution is a fitting narrative for the prevailing transition between the square and powerful Peccatte school and more delicate Vuillaume school in the latter half of the 19th century.

In 1872 he hired Louis Thomassin to assist him and Joseph Lamy 'père' joined the shop four years later. Both worked alongside Voirin until his death in 1885. His bows, which he declined to sell to other firms with the exception of a few to Chanot, are stamped, "F.N. Voirin à Paris." They are among the best and most important in the history of the trade.