Restoration of furniture and furnishings
The priority of our studio is the restoration of historical furniture. We offer a comprehensive range of services in the restoration and conservation of furniture and wooden sculptures. We are engaged in the restoration of historic furniture for private clients and institutions, such as museums, galleries ...
During the restoration and conservation we work with materials and technology corresponding to origins of the particular art with an emphasis on preservation of historical value. We are concerned with furniture, antiques and artistic works of all styles, made of all sorts of historical technologies having multiple variants of decorative techniques.
The priority of our work is to learn and understand the original author's work so far as possible to get closer to the perfection of the original appearance with preserving of historical values. We take a frugal approach and precision of all interventions granted. This is also usually included in particular the conduct exploration work and its conservation, interpretation of the aesthetic value of the work documentation of carried out restoration. In the case of the complexity of the historical furniture there is necessary natural cooperation with experts from related professions - artistic blacksmiths, metal restorers, painters, sculptors, art historians and other artistic experts.
All technical interventions in the particular art are conducted solely with the use of traditional historical technological procedures, authentic natural materials and ingredients. All operations are conducted in accordance with the restoration ethics and in accordance with the Law on Cultural Monuments.
Techniques for inlaying and surface modification of furniture
We would like to introduce various techniques furniture inlaying and surface modification of furniture to illustrate the complexity of the historical furniture restoration.
Incustration
It is the oldest method of furniture inlaying. It means inlaying the surface by thicker pieces of wood in a massive surroundings (slots are stucked and mortised in the area of solid planks, into which there is inserted a different material or the same material with the opposite direction of wood grain). In our country there was encrustation widespread in the period called peasant baroque.
Intarsia
New woodworking techniques have emerged with the development of techniques - veneers. People started to use soft wood instead of the previous rigid structural material and furniture surface was finished with veneers of better quality and more attractive wood. Intarsia isn´t just overlaying, graining, but veneers folded into shapes. The simplest marquetry inlay is tape or frame. There is colour of wood, drawing of their differences routing years used for more complex intarsia. We can meet different coloured intricate geometric ornaments, figural ornaments, plant and genre pictures.
Huts-Karim
This is a very laborious technique, which originated in ancient Persia and it is still used in oriental countries.
Cheb technology
Cheb technique is basically incustration combined with carving, but its implementation is very complicated and unique. Landscapes and genre scenes are mostly themed images. The technique originated in the Baroque era and was used until the end of the last century.
Venetian mosaic
It is a decorative Italian Renaissance technique. Thin, uniform pearl fragments were pushed into the chalk, oil or varnish sealant. Naturally polished and black lacquered furniture was inlayed by Venetian mosaic.
Solder technology
The technique taken from the Orient. The ornament is formed so that the linear depth carving is filled by tinted chalk sealant. The drawing consists of different interlaced lines of color, often supplemented by incustration. Themed ornaments are plant and figurative, less often architecture.
Damascening
It is one of the decorative techniques of the Baroque. It is wood inlaying by silver wire. The themed ornament is always plant and mostly supplements incustration. Damascening occurs rather on small home accessories.
Technique Boulle - Ebenista Louis XIV (Charles André Boulle)
He used the furniture decorating technique, which still bears his name. The point is furniture intarsia using tin, brass and tortoiseshell and intarsia strengthened by engraving in all materials. Tortoiseshell was tinged with red, which increased the effect of decoration. The furniture was equipped by rich bronze fittings, not only locks, but also on the corners.
Surface modification of furniture
Surface modification of furniture is applying an agent that multiples highlight its historical value and uniqueness in favour of aesthetic perfection. At the same time surface modification protects the furniture against internal factors and climate change. The most common surface modifications to renovate are:
Wax finish
Making a furniture finish with beeswax was mainly used during the Middle Ages. We could find this technique in other styles and periods in types of furniture, which had more utility function. A typical example is the so-called rustic furniture, articles of daily use.
French polish
Polishing is one of the oldest wood finishes. It ceased to be used with the expansion of industrial production of furniture, because machinery use cannot perform this adjustment. Polishing requires concentration and feeling in hands and visual feeling and a lot of time and patience. But the wood shines under polish, it has beautiful honeyed glow that enhances the vividness of woody plants - intarsia and incustration gain polished depth, plasticity, liveliness. It has unique features to lead light and wring it out so that there is an optical illusion of depth and structure of wood.