WATCH: Kevin happy with career change from civil engineer to instrument maker
Kevin Harrington is a former civil engineer from Cork, and since 2008 he has working full time making and repairing instruments, in particular harps.
''I started back in 2008. I left my job just before the big recession, and my partner and I went to London, and I started a course over there in violin making and repair.''
Kevin Harrington is a former civil engineer from Cork, and since 2008 he has working full time making and repairing instruments, in particular harps.
He completed training in building violins but, after being encouraged to look at building harps, found his passion was in this area.
Kevin says that building a harp from scratch takes a month.
He sources his materials from a variety of places-the main part of the harp's heart is Irish wood, with materials for other parts imported from Estonia, Latvia or Finland.
In 2012, his wife took up a job in Dublin, which led them to move to Wicklow, where Kevin built a workshop until moving back to Cork in 2021.
Initially, Kevin said that he struggled financially after leaving his job as a civil engineer to build musical instruments.
''Leaving a very secure job like that, and with the instrument making and the harp making, you're kind of, you're slowly, building up a reputation getting more orders. But at the moment, it's kind of looking good, really, financially wise.''
The pandemic undoubtedly impacted Mr Harrington’s business and he said that his phone did not ring for orders for a number of months.
In normal times, Kevin would have travelled to music and art festivals and exhibitions throughout the year to market his harps and sell them.
Now restrictions have eased, he hopes to see these festivals return.
Talking about the quality of the harps, he said he believes that some excellent instruments are made in factories.
However, he believes that there is a good appreciation of the musical instruments made by one person from start to finish.
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