In 1995 Dutch engineer Aristides Poort began research on a composite alternative to tone wood in collaboration with the Technical University of Delft. The Aristides brand was founded in 2007 to develop a guitar based on this research using a man made compostite called Arium. Aristides guitars have a one-piece construction, in which the entire guitar (body and neck) are molded in a single piece. A wooden fretboard is then added. Initial prototypes were well recieved and in 2012, Aristides Instruments moved to a much larger production facility in Haarlem.