About Us

Allan Shiers, our chief harp maker learnt his harp trade from John Weston Thomas over 30 years ago, and has been making harps ever since.

John Weston Thomas practically single-handedly saved the Welsh harp making industry from extinction in the 1960’s. He had to seek out people who remembered how people did certain things and speak to harp players to find out what was important to them, and his book “Too Long to Learn” explains just how difficult the task was and how long it took.
Allan, having learnt his craft making harps for many years became very much aware that his skills may well have died with him if he did not do something about it.

Telynau Teifi was set up in 2004 as a community business, with a board of voluntary directors from the local area. Their idea was to secure the harp making tradition of Wales for future generations by providing a Centre of Excellence for the harp in Wales. With the help of Ceredigion County Council and the European Union we purchased an old school in Llandysul and equipped it to develop a range of harps.
Telynau Teifi now produce 3 types of harp, with a pedal harp in development, which will bring our total to 4 by 2009. We employ 8 staff, who all live locally, with a range of skills from office skills to computer aided engineers. The breadth of skills and the young age of most of our staff is something that we are particularly proud.

The whole harp making process takes place here on our one site. We choose our timber which is delivered in large boards. We then process these boards into the solid wood to make the harps. The metal parts are also made on site using the very latest metalworking machinery, giving us great accuracy and consistency. We use the latest technology and equipment to get the consistently high quality we require and this helps our craftsmen spend their time on the hand crafting that makes our harps so unique and special.

We involve the local community in many different ways. The board of directors is made up of local people with various skills, from successful business men, solicitor, harp maker, retired schoolmaster and farmer. We also get advice from the economic development department of our county council.

We also have a pool of volunteers, who come in to help when required to do such diverse tasks as sanding wood to stringing harps and tuning them. We involve our local schools by giving work experience to both pupils and teachers and provide recording facilities for their exams. We also have pupils who work for us part time.

We arranged a free concert for our official launch to thank the community, and we organize other concerts in the area. We are involved in the local tourism initiative to encourage visitors to Llandysul and we are looking at organizing a harp festival to encourage more people to visit Llandysul. We give guided tours to groups and also to individuals which need to be booked in advance. Please contact us to arrange a visit for your group.

Welcome to the world of Teifi Harps