TALWAR BROTHERS: Their Story

Talwar Brothers (P) Ltd. is a 3rd generation family business with manufacturing facilities in Kolkata, India. The company caters to the Music Industry throughout the world, especially in Japan, Europe and USA.

The company is founded on the core values of honesty, integrity, and loyalty to the customers. These are reflected in their products that provide real satisfaction and value for money.

How was the company founded?

Talwar Brothers was founded by Balraj Talwar in 1948, who migrated to the city of Kolkata in 1943 with just a few pennies in his pocket. He borrowed money to start a business in timber that was in short supply due to World War II. The business grew and Balraj brought in his brothers to help him manage it. Thus, the company was named Talwar Brothers.

In 1962, Balraj’s eldest son Vijay Talwar enrolled at the University Of Hamburg, Germany for a Masters in Wood Technology to help grow the business professionally. Vijay came back to India in 1967 to a company that was embezzled of USD 1.5 million dollars.

Vijay used his technical knowledge to discover that India was a great source of Ebony and became the first company to export Ebony from India. With the quick foray into export of Ebony the company started making a profit in 1972.

In 1971 Dr. Moeck, owner of Moeck Blockfloetenbau und Verlag in Germany visited their factory in Kolkata. He was impressed with the sawmill and asked Vijay to supply Ebony to his factory in Germany. Moeck became a regular customer and placed annual orders for Ebony.

The birth of Gard Bags

One year and 178 samples later Vijay got an order from Moeck and Talwar Brothers made its first foray into bags. From bags for recorders, they went to bags for all types of musical instruments and ‘Gard Bags’ was born in the year 1995. The mother kangaroo with a baby in her pouch became their logo because it depicted how Gard bags protect the encased musical instruments – with the same way that a mother cares for her child.

In 1993, Vijay’s daughter Pooja joined Moeck as an apprentice in Germany. Pooja became a woodwind instrument maker and worked with Fehr Blockfloetenbau in Switzerland for 2 years before returning to India in 1999.

By 1999, Talwar Brothers had established itself as the maker of bags and violin accessories from exotic woods. They made bags for OEM companies as well as their own brand of Gard gig bags – and their violin accessories were sold all over the world including USA by the then St. Louis Music Company.

Birth of AcuraMeister :

In 2014, brand AcuraMeister made its debut as a new division of Talwar Brothers. Since establishing itself in 1948 as one of India’s leading wood specialists for the music trade, the parent company has been immersed in supplying the needs of distinguished instrument companies worldwide.

Under Vijay Talwar’s leadership, the firm has elevated its technical sophistication to an extraordinary level, and has expanded its premium-level production capacity to meet growing demand. Not surprisingly, in recent years, the firm has emerged as an increasingly important OEM resource for some of Europe’s most discerning fittings suppliers.

Today, a third generation is fully engaged in extending and elevating the company tradition of innovation and quality. Through AcuraMeister, we are dedicated to providing a comprehensive range of premium string instrument fittings to that valued community of fine string shops and luthiers, and committed to serving those seeking to provide their own customers with world class precision, classical elegance, and unparalleled value.

The fire of 1999

On 18th January 1999, the offices and factory of Talwar Brothers were destroyed in a devastating fire. It was payday for all the employees. Founder Balraj Talwar and son Vijay Talwar set up a makeshift table on the sidewalk in front of the burnt building and paid out salaries in cash to each one of the employees of Talwar Brothers.

Six years later in 2004, they shifted to their current building as shown in the picture on the right.

In 2008, Balraj Talwar died and one and half year later Pooja Talwar married Abhi Chakrabarti and moved to the USA to be with her husband.

For five years, Vijay Talwar ran the company alone, and in 2013, Abhi and Pooja decided to leave USA and join the family company. For the last two years, the company is being run by a three person managerial team of Abhi, Pooja and Vijay.

This is the story of their success so far. You are welcome to explore their websites (www.gardbags.com, www.acurameister.com) and contact them for more information.