The Chordwainers are a leather band based in Launceston Tasmania and the leather instruments they play were made and designed by Garry Greenwood. All of these instruments are somewhat unlikely, out of the ordinary and whimsical. Some are like saxophones, some like didjeridus, bugles, bassoons, flutes, harps or drums. Some are very different.

As a band, the players work to find the instruments’ voices and to get them to converse and sing together.

The Chordwainers draw from many musical cultures in their quest to bring these remarkable instruments to life. Tango, jigs, blues, salsa, marches, African, Celtic, and Macedonian music influence their repertoire. The music is playful, haunting, beautiful, confronting and positive.

Karlin Love began working with Garry Greenwood in 1994. Shortly after that Garry built the first of the bowhorns. Karlin premiered the new instrument within a recital of Australian clarinet music in the U.S.A. later that year.

Over the next 2 years Karlin formed the Chordwainers as a small leather instrument ensemble. Alongside this she continues to work with the Tasmanian Leather Orchestra project at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston. The orchestra is based on a playable collection of Garry Greenwood’s instruments.

Chordwainer comes from ‘cordwainer’ – a term for leather workers dating from medieval times, particularly those in Cordoba working with cordovan leather.