About Us

Andreas Kägi was born into a family of musicians in Bern in 1948 and received his first cello lessons at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he began studying music at the Bern Conservatory and at the same time gave successful performances, but in the end opted against an instrumentalist career. His interests were diverse, ranging from literature to the natural sciences to handicraft, which ultimately spurred his choice of career. In 1971 he began training as a violin maker in Mittenwald. In 1974, Rudolf Pliverics offered him a job in Berlin. In 1978 he moved to Zurich for two more journeyman years, where he found further important inspiration from Günther Rass (Hug & Co).

In 1981, Kägi passed the master's examination and became self-employed in Berlin in the same year. The isolated location of West Berlin certainly had some drawbacks for a young entrepreneur, but on the other hand the wide array of culture on offer provided an ideal space for creativity. Kägi developed numerous new techniques in the field of repair and restoration and soon had young employees from all over the world. This in turn brought new challenges and new methods and the exchange of knowledge and skills grew steadily and has intensified with the years.

Jacob Veit Mueller joined Andreas Kägi in 2012 after finishing his education as a violin maker New York; Boston, MA and the Netherlands. He now specializes in building new violins and the restoration of historical instruments with a special interest in the perfection of varnish. His passion and dedication for his metier is growing strong.

Kim-Harald Plattner was born in Stuttgart and received his first violin lessons at the age of four. At sixteen he began studying music at the Music Academy in Graz with Yair Kless. In 2009 he moved to the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv and in 2012 to the College of Arts in Bern, where he completed his Master of Arts in 2014 under Corina Belcea.

Plattner has won many prizes at national and international competitions, including the 1st prize and special prize of the international "Queen Sophie Charlotte" competition.

He is a passionate chamber musician and has performed with artists such as Ivry Gitlis, Mate Szucs, Julian Rachlin and others.

His piano trio, founded in 2014, the "Trio Specter", performs all over the world and has been the winner of various international competitions.

Out of an interest in high-quality stringed instruments, he founded Streichwerk in 2016 and has been Head of Sales at A. Kaegi Violinmaking & Restoration since 2019.