Master Workshop · Meisterbetrieb

The Atelier

Restoration of precious antiques with proven historical techniques.

Our Guiding Principle

Restoring means preserving

In our workshop we devote ourselves to the restoration of the finest antiques. With every piece, we take care to preserve the patina of the ages it has outlived — for each piece carries its own history, which makes it unique and deserves to be kept. Our task is the recovery and care of objects marked by age and use, within their historical context.

Guiding lights: original substance, the object's history, legibility, and reversibility.

Isai Liven mit Stirnlupe und Skalpell am polychromen Relief
Work in Progress

Patience, piece by piece

Under the magnifying visor, a carved polychrome relief gives up its secrets millimetre by millimetre — old overpaint lifted with the scalpel, original color laid free. Every restoration begins with understanding: how was it built, what has it endured, what does it need?

Only then do the tools come out — many of them older than the pieces they serve.

Appraisal & Science

Reading a piece like a document

Craquelure under raking light, the honest back of a panel, an incised signature — before any work begins, the object itself is questioned: wood identification, paint-layer analysis, UV examination, documentation in words and images.

Krakelee eines Madonnenbildes im Streiflicht

Raking light

Craquelure tells the age
Rückseite eines Tafelbildes wird geprüft

The honest back

A panel's verso never lies
Gravierte Signaturen auf einer Bronze

Signatures

Incised marks, read and verified
The Craft

Details that tell of mastery

Marquetry and carving, gilding and hardware — glimpses from the atelier.

Hand schleift ein geschnitztes Profil
Surfaces are worked by hand, grain by grain
Vergoldeter geschnitzter Frauenkopf
Gold leaf over red bole — gilding in the old manner
Marketerie mit Burgmotiv
Pictorial marquetry: a castle in veneer
Stemmeisen in Holzspänen
The chisel — sharpened a thousand times, never replaced
Geschnitzte Büste, im Hintergrund der Restaurator
Sculpture and maker, side by side
Zerlegtes Schubfach mit Schwalbenschwanzverbindung
Dovetails laid bare — restoration begins inside
Vergoldetes Säulenkapitell
A gilded capital, barely two inches tall
Alter Schlüssel im Schlüsselschild
Original keys, original locks — kept working
Gestapelte vergoldete Rahmen
Frames awaiting their paintings
Geschnitzte Voluten einer Lehne
Carved volutes on a chair back
Wurzelholzmaserung
Burl veneer — nature's own ornament
Geschnitzter Delphinkopf einer Armlehne
A dolphin's head from an Empire récamier
Try It Yourself

See like the restorer

Every judgment begins under the loupe: is the veneer original, how deep does a crack go, which layer is old and which is added? Take the magnifier in hand and examine the castle marquetry of our Baroque bureau-cabinet — every square centimetre is cut, shaded, and laid by hand.

What you are looking at is wood — every colour is a different veneer, shaded in hot sand, not painted.

Burgmarketerie des barocken Aufsatzsekretärs

Move the loupe across the marquetry

“You can never have too many clamps — or too much patience.”
Workshop wisdom
The Workshop

Where the work happens

Werkzeugwand mit Stemmeisen und Sägen

The tool wall

Chisels, saws, planes
Werkstattecke mit Leimtopf

The glue corner

Hot hide glue, as ever
Geschnitzte Heiligenfigur auf der Werkbank

Patient patients

A carved saint awaits treatment
Services

The full craft, under one roof

Every measure is tailored individually to the object and carried out in consultation with the client — from first advice to final documentation.

Restoration & craft

  • ✦  Restoration of furniture, picture frames, sculpture, and carved wooden objects
  • ✦  Conservation of polychrome painted surfaces
  • ✦  Wood conservation and pest treatment
  • ✦  Stabilising furniture structures using historical working techniques
  • ✦  Surface treatment: shellac polish, oil, varnish, wax
  • ✦  Consolidation and re-creation of marquetry and inlay — including metal marquetry
  • ✦  Gilding and silvering of all kinds, gold and blind tooling of leather
  • ✦  Carving and turnery, expert completions, faithful reconstructions
  • ✦  Clock-case restoration; movement restorations arranged with specialists
  • ✦  Re-papering of furniture with period-correct furniture paper
  • ✦  Reproduction of mounts, locks, keys, and other hardware

Consulting & science

  • ✦  Advice on purchases and restoration concepts
  • ✦  Technological appraisals and scientific documentation
  • ✦  Macro- and microscopic wood identification
  • ✦  Paint-layer, pigment, and binding-medium analyses
  • ✦  UV-light examinations
  • ✦  Documentation of each restoration in words and images
  • ✦  Professional storage, securing, and transport of valuable pieces
Leuchtende Opalinlampe über viktorianischem Fliesenboden

Experience the work of a restorer live, on site, and learn about the many techniques of the trade in the atelier — simply arrange an appointment!

Get in touch