Over 80 years of passion and craftsmanship

1938 - 1984: the first generation

Albert Maene and Zulma Doutreloigne started their piano store in Esen (Diksmuide) in 1938. Father Maene was an organist and music teacher. He gave solfège and piano lessons at the music academy of Diksmuide and privately at his home. In his business he also rented out rooms with pianos where pupils could practice. Mother Maene excelled in business and in this way both formed an excellent duo to run their piano store.

Next door to the piano store lived organ builder Jozef Loncke, from whom Albert Maene learned the art of piano tuning. Pierre Labyt, a piano dealer and restorer from Bruges, also trained Albert Maene in the piano trade. Finally, also the Antwerp piano builder Guido Vancauwenberghe passed on his knowledge to Albert Maene.

Some important milestones in this period were:

1947 Relocation to Ruiselede, Aalterstraat 27
1958 Albert Maene makes a study carillon
1960 Sale of new Kawai grand pianos and grand pianos
1969 Chris Maene builds his first harpsichord
1971 Purchase of brewery "De Molen" in the Aalterstraat 4; this will later become the showroom as well
1972 Official Yamaha dealer
1973 Chris Maene joins the business
1975 First replica pianoforte: copy Johannes Daniel Dulcken
1981 Opening of new showroom in the center of Ruiselede.
1984 Chris Maene becomes manager of Piano's Maene

1984 - 2004: Chris Maene bouwt het bedrijf uit tot een internationale hoofdspeler

1984 - 2004: Chris Maene builds the company into an international key player.

From 1984 Chris Maene took over the torch from his parents and became the head of the business.

He took care of the further growth and expansion of the activities. With traditional craftsmanship he managed to build a workshop with specialists, some of whom received several years of training in Hamburg, Berlin, Poland, Tokyo and Paris. The uniqueness of Piano's Maene is the combination of a piano store, the atelier and the collection of historical instruments. In this way the business guarantees a total service to the customers: sales, rental, maintenance, tuning, restoration and new construction.

Some important milestones of this period :

1989 Opening of a new workshop for instrument making and restoration, at Industriestraat no. 5
1990 10th employee employed.
1990 Start of sales of digital pianos
1994 Opening of a store in Brussels
1994 Maene pianorent: concert and private hire
1995 20th employee in service
1998 Move of the showroom to Industriestraat 5
2000 Official distributor of "Steinway & Sons".
2000 30th employee in service
2001 Opening store Ghent
2002 Exclusive importer of Steinway & Sons

2004 - heden: continue groei en investering

2004 - present: continuous growth and investment

In 2004 Chris' two sons also started in the company. With Dominique and Frederic Maene, the third generation is already active.

In the meantime, more than fifty people are responsible for providing an excellent service: tuners, salespeople, transporters, the administration department and all workshop employees who take care of maintenance, construction and restoration. The largest concert halls, such as the Concertgebouw in Bruges and the Bozar in Brussels, gladly make use of the instruments and services of Pianos Maene. Several historical instruments from the 350 instrument collection of Chris Maene are also offered for rental. These instruments are used both during concerts and for CD recordings.

Some important milestones from this period:

2004 Start of Doutreligne pianos and grand pianos
2006 Construction of the replica of the very first Steinway: the "Steinway N°1".
2008 Move to the new headquarters, Industriestraat 42.
2009 45th employee hired. Trends Gazellen West-Vlaanderen award
2009 Investments in the workshop: 3D Cad Software (Top Solid), horizontal flat presses, vertical press
2010 Investment in new ERP software Navision
2010 Atelier Chris Maene builds replica of the Chopinpiano : a concert grand piano Pleyel from 1843
2010 Atelier designs a Doutreligne designer grand piano : the Doutreligne Seven. First market introduction at Interieur in Kortrijk
2011 Piano's Maene wins the "Henry Van de Velde"-award for the design piano Doutreligne Seven.
2012 Piano's Maene buys a recent industrial building and opens a fourth branch in Wommelgem-Antwerp
2012 Chris Maene hands over daily management to CEO Stefaan Vanfleteren and his management team, and focuses himself on the workshop and instrument making, the DNA of the company.
2013 Piano's Maene opens new branch in Ghent (Sint-Denijs-Westrem)
2013 Pianos Maene officially becomes "court supplier", after years of providing service and instruments to the court and royal family
2013 Chris Maene and his workshop build a replica of an 1817 Broadwood pianoforte, commissioned by Mc.Gill University in Canada
2014 Klara, the classical music radio par excellence, elects Chris Maene as music personality of 2013
2015 Chris Maene and his workshop build own concert grand piano (straight-strung string) for Maestro Daniel Barenboim
2015 Next to the showroom in Ghent, a second showroom opens : the Steinway Piano Gallery Belgium, flagship store of Pianos Maene
2015 Design piano Doutreligne Seven and Chris Maene Concert Grand piano are presented in the Belgian Pavilion at the World Expo in Milan
2016 Piano's Maene buys the Paterskerk of Oud-Rekem (Lanaken, Belgian Limburg) and opens a new branch there (after intensive renovations)
2017 Piano's Maene commits to the climate and plants from now on, through WeForest, a tree for every sold or produced piano
2018 Pianos Maene takes over the Dutch Ypma Pianos and renames it "Pianos Maene Netherlands". This also makes Maene an importer of Steinway&Sons for Belgium and the Netherlands.
2019 In November, His Majesty King Filip and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde visit the headquarters of Pianos Maene in Ruiselede. They will also get an extended tour in the Chris Maene workshop, where the right-handed concert grand pianos are built
2020 The Conservatories in The Hague and Maastricht resolutely choose Piano's Maene Nederland as their piano partner. The piano park is renewed and dozens of Steinway and Yamaha grand pianos are delivered. The Maastricht conservatory even chooses to become an "all Steinway School".
2020 Pianos Maene wants the best customer experience and service, and for this purpose invests further in the digitalization of customer contacts. The own transports are organized from now on with DROPON, a tool for planning the transports and easy tracing for the customer.