Lowden Guitars to receive prestigious Queen’s Award

Lowden Guitars was recently honoured with the highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade. Along with this year’s 220 other recipients, Lowden Guitars will receive the award in a royal reception at Buckingham Palace later this summer.

The company is known for handcrafting high-quality instruments – having produced guitars for the likes of Paul Brady, Jon Gomme, Pierre Bensusan, Alex De Grassi, Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, Damien Rice, Eric Clapton, and Ed Sheeran – whom the company collaborated with last year on a series dubbed Sheeran.

Recognising Sheeran’s significance in transforming the company into a household name, managing director David Ausdahl commented “launching Sheeran by Lowden has introduced our guitars to a whole new generation of players, encouraging many musicians on-the-rise to dedicate themselves to reaching their highest potential in guitar playing.”

Last year also saw the company introduce eight new models to their line-up of core products – as well as a string production division, Lowden Strings.

Company founder and luthier, George Lowden began making instruments in 1974. A largely self-taught craftsman, his dedication and consistent experimentation led to the company’s expansion – which now sees them employ and train skilled craftspeople at their workshop in Downpatrick, Ireland.

“It has been a milestone moment for Lowden Guitars to be included by the Prime Minister and Her Majesty the Queen on the list of businesses in this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise,” Lowden commented in a statement regarding the award.

“It has taken a lot of hard work, patience and determination during the last 45 years and we are delighted and humbled to be among other home-grown companies and brands on this prestigious list.”

We checked out two of Lowden’s creations, the F35 and Wee Lowden, earlier this year at NAMM, take a look here.

Learn more about Lowden Guitars, here.

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