Christian
Managing Director
Electric and folk guitar, electric bass, vocals
The House of Azzato
From Michele Azzato, who set up his workshop in 1919, to today: a century of lutherie in Belgium.
The faces of the house
Our entire team is at your disposal in our two shops (Brussels and Louvain-la-Neuve) to help you choose your instrument and its accessories. Naturally, each of us has a particular fondness for one (or several) instrument(s) and/or more specific knowledge. So this is the perfect opportunity to introduce you to the members of this Dream Team, of whom we're rather proud.
Raphaëla
Sales advisor
Violin, viola
Tanguy
Sales advisor, academy contact
Folk and electric guitar, electric bass, keyboards, ukulele
Anthony
Sales advisor, community manager
Folk and electric guitar, electric bass, ukulele, drums, piano
Thierry
Sales advisor, luthier
Folk, classical and electric guitar, electric bass, banjo, ukulele
Gaëtan
Sales advisor
Keyboards, folk and electric guitar, electric bass
Maxime
Sales advisor
Folk, classical, electric guitar, ukulele, dobro, banjo, mandolin
Amber
Quartet luthier
Cello
Anna
Quartet luthier
Baroque cello
Alexandre
Guitar luthier
Electric bass
A century of lutherie
- 1887-1918
The man before the workshop
Born in Italy in 1887, Michele Azzato made his way to Paris on foot at around the age of ten. A family of musicians took him in, taught him the violin and set him on the path to lutherie. Mobilized in 1914 and wounded in combat, he received the last rites at the military hospital, and recovered.
- 1919
The shop at 79 rue des Éperonniers, 1930s The workshop, in Brussels
Having arrived in Belgium, Michele set up his workshop on rue Blaes, then rue du Lombard, before settling at 79 rue des Éperonniers. There he made mandolins and banjos of very fine craftsmanship, and sold violins, cellos, double basses, strings and sheet music.
- 1931
The Azzato-Jacobacci banjos
The workshop collaborates with the famous Jacobacci house, in Paris, for the manufacture of the Azzato/Jacobacci banjos.
- Années 1950
The guitar, and Nicolas Alfonso
With the war behind him, during which he sold radios and small equipment to get by, Michele followed the emerging craze for the guitar. Nicolas Alfonso, a great master of the instrument recently arrived in Belgium, became a regular. The shop gradually established itself as the center of the guitar world in Brussels.
- 1968
The house changes hands
At over 80 years old, Michele handed the shop over to two of Alfonso's students who had become guitar teachers, Jacques and Dominique Cormont. They revived the lutherie side, expanded the range to world, antique and wind instruments, became distributors of Spanish and German brands, and made the house the strings specialist. A music bookshop, Adagio, opened alongside it.
- 1982
Rue de la Violette
The shop left rue des Éperonniers for number 42 rue de la Violette, in the former L'Écu de France restaurant. That same year, Michele Azzato passed away at 95, after more than eighty years of a life filled with instruments.
- 2014
A second shop, in Louvain-la-Neuve
After the children of Jacques and Dominique, including Philippe for the instrument shop, the house opened a branch in the heart of the university town, for students, schools and musicians of Walloon Brabant.
- 2023
Azzato taken over in 2023 by Benoît Goes (left) and Christian Bormans (right) A new takeover
On 1 September, when Philippe ceased operating, Christian Bormans, one of his employees, took over the house with his old friend Benoît Goes, under the company Blackbird Music. The focus was first on folk guitars, then on the workshops, with the hiring of a guitar luthier and a quartet-instrument luthier.
- 2024
The continuity of Hill's Music
When the Hill's Music shop closed, in March, Azzato ensured its continuity by hiring its mainstay, Thierry Herremans, who continues to maintain the instruments sold by his father and himself over the past fifty years.
That same year, the range of guitars and violins widened to include lesser-known but high-quality makers, for which the house now holds exclusive distribution in Belgium: priority is given to European instruments.
See more See less
- 2026
Where musicians meet
Azzato remains a place where advice commits the person giving it: an instrument tried in the shop, set up in the workshop, and looked after thereafter.
The workshop
The craft of lutherie
Azzato is also an in-house team of luthiers you may not see very often: they keep a small haven of peace conducive to their craft, upstairs in our old house.
1919
Year founded
The year Michele Azzato opened his first workshop.
2
Shops · Brussels and Louvain-la-Neuve
Two addresses, the same care given to every instrument.
+ 3000
Instruments available in our shops
The origins
The man who wanted to see the sun
Michele Azzato was born on 24 April 1887 in Marscon Nuovo, Italy. Around the age of ten, while working as a shepherd, he was driven out of his village, by his own parents among others. Legend has it he had thrown stones at the priest.
He set off on foot and walked all the way to Paris. A family of musicians took him in and taught him the violin. Lutherie already drew him: he quickly learned its rudiments, entered an apprenticeship in a workshop, and played in the evenings to earn a living.
In 1914 he was mobilized. Wounded in combat, he was carried dying to the military hospital, where he received the last rites. To a friend who came to pay him a final visit, he asked to be carried outside: he wanted to see the sun, not die shut indoors. The friend carried him onto a lawn and, so the story goes, played him a tune on the mandolin. Michele recovered.
Five years later he opened his workshop in Brussels. He died in 1982, aged 95, the very year the shop moved to rue de la Violette, where it still stands.
Brussels · Louvain-la-Neuve Come meet
Come meet
us
Push open the door of our shops, with or without an appointment, to understand the house from the inside.