Case Study: Epiphone
CASE STUDY: EPIPHONE
IN THE BEGINNING
The Epiphone story does not follow a straight line. For more than a century, it has twisted and turned through triumph, setback and comeback; hitting both dizzying highs and crushing lows as it winds its way through the ages. The latest chapter, in 2007, finds Epiphone as one of the most successful and respected instrument manufacturers on the planet. The opening chapter begins some 130 years before that, in the workshop of Anastasios Stathopoulo.
The son of a Greek timber merchant, Anastasios would not follow his father into the family trade, although his chosen profession would use the same materials. He began crafting lutes, violins and traditional Greek lioutos in 1873. A few years thereafter, Anastasios sailed across the Aegean Sea with his family to start a new life in Turkey. By 1890, his talent and reputation had allowed him to open an instrument factory and start a family. First to arrive in 1893 was a son, Epaminondas, followed later that decade by Alex, Minnie and Orpheus.
By 1903, the persecution of Greek immigrants by the native Turks had forced the Stathopoulo family to move again; this time to a residence in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of New York. With Anastasios crafting and selling his instruments on the ground floor, and the family living directly above, the line between work and home life became increasingly blurred. Epaminondas (known as 'Epi') and Orpheus ('Orphie') were soon helping out in the shop and learning the business from the ground up.
And business was good. It was Anastasios' good fortune to arrive in New York at the height of the mandolin craze, and this dovetailed with the popularity of his traditional Greek instruments amongst the city's bustling community. Thanks to the success of their father's instruments (now labelled 'A. Stathopoulo, manufacturer-repairer of all kinds of musical instruments', and built in a warehouse on 247 West 42nd Street), the Stathopoulo
IN THE BEGINNING
The Epiphone story does not follow a straight line. For more than a century, it has twisted and turned through triumph, setback and comeback; hitting both dizzying highs and crushing lows as it winds its way through the ages. The latest chapter, in 2007, finds Epiphone as one of the most successful and respected instrument manufacturers on the planet. The opening chapter begins some 130 years before that, in the workshop of Anastasios Stathopoulo.
The son of a Greek timber merchant, Anastasios would not follow his father into the family trade, although his chosen profession would use the same materials. He began crafting lutes, violins and traditional Greek lioutos in 1873. A few years thereafter, Anastasios sailed across the Aegean Sea with his family to start a new life in Turkey. By 1890, his talent and reputation had allowed him to open an instrument factory and start a family. First to arrive in 1893 was a son, Epaminondas, followed later that decade by Alex, Minnie and Orpheus.
By 1903, the persecution of Greek immigrants by the native Turks had forced the Stathopoulo family to move again; this time to a residence in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of New York. With Anastasios crafting and selling his instruments on the ground floor, and the family living directly above, the line between work and home life became increasingly blurred. Epaminondas (known as 'Epi') and Orpheus ('Orphie') were soon helping out in the shop and learning the business from the ground up.
And business was good. It was Anastasios' good fortune to arrive in New York at the height of the mandolin craze, and this dovetailed with the popularity of his traditional Greek instruments amongst the city's bustling community. Thanks to the success of their father's instruments (now labelled 'A. Stathopoulo, manufacturer-repairer of all kinds of musical instruments', and built in a warehouse on 247 West 42nd Street), the Stathopoulo