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In his workshop overlooking the Austrian town of Dornbirn, Elmar Kalb usually designs and creates objects that many other carpenters also make: benches, tables, chairs, wooden trays and bookshelves.
But in 2018, the carpenter started working on a very different project: reinventing instrument cases for flutes.
Kalb had been approached by Korean-born flutist Jasmine Choi after the musician had experienced an unfortunate incident with her flute. Running to catch a flight to a concert, Choi didn’t notice her flute case slipping out from her bag. The case fell to the ground, opened, and the precious instrument tumbled out.
Although flute cases are built to be sturdy to protect the fragile instruments from shocks, most models do not really keep the flutes locked in place inside, according to Kalb.
If cases are accidentally opened upside down – a frequent occurence for many musicians at airport security controls – the flute falls out. If a case falls to the floor, it can open and also damage the flute, just like Choi had experienced.
“After many, many years of development, we have now created a flute case using a very particular technology, a mix of carbon fibres and wood, to make sure that the flute case is robust, but light,” Kalb tells Euronews Culture.
And crucially, the case contains a system of modulable clips that hold the flute firmly in place and can be adjusted to the lengths of different flute models.
Jasmine Choi owns one of Kalb’s “smart cases”. And she’s not the only one.
Together with four colleagues, Vienna Symphony Orchestra principal flutist Stefan Tomaschitz has come to Kalb’s workshop to perform a small concert on a chilly evening in early August.
It is a way for him to thank Kalb for his invention, which has been protecting his fragile and expensive flute – prices for professionals’ instruments can go up to €100,000 – for more than a year already.
For the flutist, the advantages of the case compared to other models are clear. He recalls a conversation with his instrument’s insurance company: “My insurer told me that he once visited the flute-building atelier in Vienna, where the director showed him how the precious instruments were being stored, so in the [conventional] cases where the flutes aren’t secured.”
This created a major dilemma for the insurance company.
“The insurer was horrified and had to reconvene with the company until they had contacted all flute manufacturers who told them, yes, this is how everyone actually stores and transports the flutes,” the musician says.
For Tomaschitz, using Kalb’s flute case eases his mind whenever and wherever he travels with his instrument.
And it allows him to focus on what he does best: make music.
Check out the video above for extracts of our interviews, the flute case and some delightful music.