In 2013, Pianos Maene celebrated its 75th anniversary and a beautiful photo book was published for the occasion.
Download it below:
The family business Piano's Maene was founded in 1938 and with about 100 employees, 6 stores, a piano museum and a world-renowned workshop is one of the largest piano companies in Europe.
In 2013, Pianos Maene celebrated its 75th anniversary and a beautiful photo book was published for the occasion.
Download it below:
Albert Maene and Zulma Doutreloigne started their piano store in Esen (Diksmuide) in 1938. Father Maene was an organist and music teacher. He gave solfège and piano lessons at the music academy of Diksmuide and privately at his home. In his business he also rented out rooms with pianos where pupils could practice. Mother Maene excelled in business and in this way both formed an excellent duo to run their piano store.
Next door to the piano store lived organ builder Jozef Loncke, from whom Albert Maene learned the art of piano tuning. Pierre Labyt, a piano dealer and restorer from Bruges, also trained Albert Maene in the piano trade. Finally, also the Antwerp piano builder Guido Vancauwenberghe passed on his knowledge to Albert Maene.
Some important milestones in this period were:
From 1984 Chris Maene took over the torch from his parents and became the head of the business.
He took care of the further growth and expansion of the activities. With traditional craftsmanship he managed to build a workshop with specialists, some of whom received several years of training in Hamburg, Berlin, Poland, Tokyo and Paris. The uniqueness of Piano's Maene is the combination of a piano store, the atelier and the collection of historical instruments. In this way the business guarantees a total service to the customers: sales, rental, maintenance, tuning, restoration and new construction.
Some important milestones of this period :
In 2004 Chris' two sons also started in the company. With Dominique and Frederic Maene, the third generation is already active.
In the meantime, more than fifty people are responsible for providing an excellent service: tuners, salespeople, transporters, the administration department and all workshop employees who take care of maintenance, construction and restoration. The largest concert halls, such as the Concertgebouw in Bruges and the Bozar in Brussels, gladly make use of the instruments and services of Pianos Maene. Several historical instruments from the 350 instrument collection of Chris Maene are also offered for rental. These instruments are used both during concerts and for CD recordings.
Some important milestones from this period: