About Us
Gainesville Violins Inc is owned by Jan and Anna van Rooyen in Gainesville, Florida, from where they have served customers throughout the USA and worldwide since 1997. An article appeared in 2007 in the Gainesville Magazine about Gainesville Violins. Jan and Anna (of Dutch origin; "Jan" is Dutch for "John") were born and raised in South Africa and between themselves speak Afrikaans, a Dutch-derived language. They learned English at school as a second language. They studied in South Africa, the USA and Germany. They have traveled in Africa, Middle Europe (such as Hungary and the Czech Republic), the Russian Federation, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Luxemburg, Brazil, Israel, Canada and the USA. Before relocating to America in 1997, they ran a violin shop called Jan-Hendrik van Rooyen Violins in Pretoria, South Africa, which they had opened part-time in 1979. |
