SPB [unofficial name]

From the western corners of Russia, based in a woodland in between Saint Petersburg and the borders of Finland, Victor Levinson a genius in metal shaping and tuning, is gradually making his first steps in the handpan building path.

The instruments Victor makes have a unique characteristic. Unlike their siblings, Victor shapes them from a flat sheet of steel to the known form of the handpan, by using solely his bare hands and hammers and no other deep-drawing or rotating machinery. The cooling and heating takes place in natural circumstances such as burying the metal in snow and heating it up using fire. The only exception is the nitriding phase, which takes place outside his workshop. Building a handpan from scratch under such circumstances is a rather slow process but the results are incredibly impressive.

This is perhaps the most bright example of what sound sculpturing really is. Victor’s instrument does not have a name yet. In the circles of the handpan community the instrument is identified as ‘SPB’. The slow process of creating his instruments means that currently Victor is not widely accepting customers and chooses to privately work with a small number of clientele.

SPB photo by Vitaliy Ivanov