Niewczyk family (luthiers)
The Niewczyk family are a long-running Polish family of instrument makers (luthiers) from Poznań. Their workshop, Pracownia Lutnicza Niewczyk & Synowie, is still operating in Poznań in 2025.
Franciszek Niewczyk (born 1859) learned locksmithing and loved music. He played clarinet and, during military service, worked in an orchestra and helped repair and move instruments to places like Berlin. He learned violin making from German luthier Heinrich Lange and, in 1885, started a violin workshop in Poznań called Niewczyk & Synowie. At first he repaired wind instruments, then expanded to string and plucked instruments. Political troubles forced him to move his work; he helped establish a violin factory in Lwów (now Lviv) in 1907, which won gold medals in 1908 in Paris and Karlovy Vary. Franciszek married Aniela Szczepańska, and they had seven children. The Lwów factory closed in 1945 after WWII, and Franciszek died in 1944.
Stanisław Niewczyk (1890–1969), Franciszek’s son, trained in Lviv and then moved to Bydgoszcz in 1922, where a branch of the family workshop operated. He built and sold string instruments and shipped violins and guitars to Lviv. He earned his master’s diploma in Poznań in 1925 and ran a workshop in Bydgoszcz from 1922 to 1935, later running a luthier workshop in Poznań from 1935. During World War II he joined the Polish Army, was arrested by the Gestapo for underground activity, and lost his home and workshop. Stanisław was known as one of Poland’s finest luthiers, focusing on violins and bowed instruments and also repairing instruments. He won medals for his work (silver in 1929 and gold in 1949–1950) and helped found the Association of Polish Violin Makers in 1954. He taught many apprentices, including his son Jan Marian, his other son Stefan, and Stefan’s son Benedykt. Stanisław died in Poznań in 1969.
Stefan Niewczyk (born 1925) learned violin making from his father and earned his master’s degree in 1948, later also becoming skilled in wind instruments and accordion making. He built about 200 violins and even made some illegal electric guitars. Stefan was a respected expert and helped found the Association of Polish Art Violin Makers in 1954, earning recognition at exhibitions such as the Warsaw competition in 1956. In 1978 the workshop moved to 6 Woźna Street in Poznań, where it remains today. Stefan died in 2007 and is buried in Poznań. In the 1970s, a note in the press prompted the workshop to relocate for better working conditions.
Benedykt Niewczyk (born 1960) took over the family workshop in 2005. He studied acoustics and even worked at the Royal Technical University in Stockholm. In 2025 he received the Meritorious for the City of Poznań. That year also marked the 140th anniversary of the workshop. Benedykt’s sons, Tytus and Maksym, have begun violin making, with Maksym competing in the International Luthiers’ Competition in Poznań.
Today, the Niewczyk family is five generations strong, keeping a tradition of violin and instrument making alive in Poznań and Poland.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 20:37 (CET).