Building handpans comes with great precision, patience, passion and knowledge
The journey of building my own handpans and developing my own brand, Root Harmonics, started in 2023. I had already learned how to tune handpans professionally for 2.5 years , with great teachers at one of the high-end handpan building companies in the Netherlands. My knowledge and skill of tuning comes from having proper education, passion and a talent for understanding the metal tuning processes.
Having had a background in 3D modelling, engineering and design helped in learning successive steps of the building process. A problem solving mindset supports me in finding ways to keep developing my skills in order to improve the quality of my instruments.
My name is Thomas de Jong, builder of Root Harmonics handpans. Having studied Industrial Design, I like to create, am sensitive about quality and shape and always search for possibilities within problems. I have a natural curiosity to improve my skills and insights towards crafting beautiful handcrafted instruments with exceptional sound.
My first encounter with the handpan in 2014 instantly triggered my interest towards the building proces.
After stepping into the handpan community I bought my first handpan, and started to understand the complexity of what it takes to build the instrument. I was not ready to dive into the building process and continued my education to study architecture.
I was trained as a professional tuner only after a life changing event at which I was employed by a high-end handpan building company. There, I became familiar with the material and all tuning issues and supported the team with my knowledge of engineering and the 3D-space. During the learning period I became more and more interested in building my own instruments. After a year of travelling the world, I decided to start my own company.
I still have a great relationship with my teachers, and started my own building journey with my brand - Root Harmonics.
