MARTINA BARTKOVA & ZUZANA JARJABKOVA

DOWINA

My grandad was a carpenter and as a kid I spent a lot of time in his workshop, so I always liked manual work, being creative and making something of great utility,” says Martina Bartkova who has worked on binding, sanding, frets, dovetails and laser-cutting for Dowina in Slovakia. “This is dirty work. There is a lot of glue, wood dust. I like my work, but I think not a lot of women are inclined to do this. Guys didn’t believe in me; I needed to show them each day I was capable.”

Currently working on necks and backplate design, Martina’s colleague Zuzana Jarjabkova aims to move on to design complete guitars. “Guitar making is still considered a man’s work. I don’t know if that is changing. But my colleagues changed, for sure.”

Would more women in guitar making have an impact on design? Jarjabkova is sceptical: “I don’t think design depends on gender.”

But Bartkova thinks so: “Women have a different aesthetic sense,” she offers.