Qzuko is a brand inspired by our needs for human and ecological behavioral change, particularly in Honduras. We see in the convergence of music, physics, biology and design in musical instrument a broad intersection, a fertile ground to generate sustainable jobs, as well as protecting our cultural and natural heritage.
To that effect we only use legally and sustainably harvested woods, paid at fair prices to the communities that grow them, and our instruments are made by the “Colectivo Lutieres de Honduras “, which builds our own as well as traditional designs, and also unique instruments customized for our customers.
That is how we can offer our clients a broad spectrum of products of the highest musical, human, and ecological quality: the Qzuko, no limits! experience.
- Miguel Romero, Qzuko´s CEO, is an visual artist and luthier. He has a BFA in sculpture, anatomy drawing and art history, and an MFA in sculpture. He lived 20 years in the USA and Europe, and is Visual Arts Professor at the UNAH since 2016, where he founded the Luthierlab. Miguel enjoys creating traditional and experimental instruments with a strong ecological tendency. He has made ukuleles, didley bows, dulcimers, and is currently making his first 2 baroque guitars.
- Erwin Onevis Vasquez (CBO) is a multidisciplinary engineer, and mathematician with a great inclination for music, photography, and the dramatic arts. I firmly believe that imagination is the most powerful glue between reality and dreams, that dreams are the sustenance of life and that life is a sigh, for that reason we are called to shine, to leave our mark on the firmament.
- The
brothers José Miguel (CIO) and Douglas Nehemias Varela (COO) are
profesional luthiers and musicians. José Miguel is a classical violinist, and
Douglas is a jazz guitarist. They make ukuleles, kalimbas, dulcimers and semi-hollow
archtop guitars. Currently they are making their first series of electrical
bases, and in 2022 they are planning to make their first series of acoustic
guitars under Qzuko´s own label.
-
- Efraín Cruz began making guitars in 1984 through World Vision, and then continued making guitars under Wyatt Sutton. He and his son Fernando Cruz founded Guitarras Cruz and are working on their new series of instruments in collaboration with Instruments of Change and Qzuko. They make classical guitars, requintos, and acoustic guitars.
- Emilio Lanza is a multidisciplinary artista. He is a graduate of the UNAH´s architecture program, as well as a painter, poet, music aficionado, teacher, and youtuber. He collaborates with NGOs and several cultural projects. In regards to instrument making, he likes making uncommon ones, and making them with lots of personalized details. He has made kalimbas, lyre harps, peruvian cajones, carambas, tongue drums, venezuelan cuatros, neo-renaissance guitars, and ronrocos. He developed an instrument of his own using jícaro gourds that he has named a “Tres Hondureño”.
- Will Mancia Toro has been making string instruments since 2013, and building in collaboration with master luthier. Jacob Marchlewsk´s Instruments of Change since 2019. He ist he founder of the brand Toro Guitars, which is inspired in the rich variety of Honduran woods. He has built dulcimers, ukuleles, acoustic, and classical guitars.