Founder of premium County Down-based guitar maker Lowden Guitars, George Lowden, celebrates the company’s International Trade awards win at the Queens Awards for Enterprise royal reception with HRH The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in November. Lowden began hand-crafting guitars in Northern Ireland in 1974 and the brand has strengthened over time as acclaimed guitarists including Paul Brady, Jon Gomm, Pierre Bensusan, Alex De Grassi, Gary Lightbody, Damien Rice, Ed Sheeran, and Eric Clapton have played and endorsed George’s creations.
Lowden’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise recognised George’s work to design a high-quality yet accessible guitar for up-and-coming players in partnership with Ed Sheeran. Utilising innovations from the aerospace industry and drawing on his own traditional methods of guitar making, George created a unique manufacturing system to enable the guitars to be made in Northern Ireland. Sheeran by Lowden launched in January 2019 to wide industry acclaim and has enjoyed tremendous continued success in the nearly 3 years since the brand’s launch.
