Gerold Genssler was the guy who designed the velvet strings. I got a used set of animas and loved them. had them them on maybe 2 or so years before they started to unwind. Genssler has designed lots of his own boutique sets of strings, they are pricey but sound amazing. the tempera strings were a collaboration with him (he's no longer involved I think). they have that lovely low tension that the animas have and sound wonderful. again, very pricey though