LaBerte Workshop

The Laberte workshop was founded in Mirecourt in 1876 by Maurice-Emile and Pierre Alexis Auguste Laberte. In 1915, Pierre’s son Marc Laberte became involved in the firm, and in 1919 he was responsible for merging with maker Fourier Magnié. OVer the next few years, the Laberte Workshop made several attempts to diversify their production to combat increased pressures of competition. In WWII, the workshop was forced to shut down, and their tooks and stick were raided. They were able to restart production after the war, but in 1969 they officially closed their doors.

Laberte Workshop consistently produced high quality instruments and bows, and by 1920, they had employed over 300 people, including master maker Georges Apparut. The Laberte Workshop owned several fine instrument models that they studied and modeled many of their instruments after, including those of Antonio Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Andrea Guarneri, Nicolò Amati, Jacob Stainer, and Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.