Wood restoration
The conservation of wooden objects of various kinds requires sensitivity, extensive expertise, and craftsmanship. As certified restorers, we at the Zentrale Restaurierungswerkstatt Berlin rely on many years of experience in conservation and restoration - from used furniture to relief inlays to magnificent altars. We are the right partner for individual and institutional clients.
ZRW Berlin - Wood restorers
Chandeliers, wooden sculptures or large wooden objects
With our expertise, we have helped many wooden objects to regain their former splendor. In all our work, we work by the Charter of Venice, the central and internationally recognized guideline for monument conservation. We are also a member of the Association of Restorers (VDR).
Due to our extensive professional knowledge and enthusiasm for antiques and wooden objects of various kinds, we cover a wide spectrum of wood and furniture conservation and restoration services. Our repertoire includes:
- Wooden sculptures and reliefs: relief inlays, Madonna niches, sculptures, sculptural works of art, crucifixes, sacral furnishings, and figures.
- Interiors of sacral buildings: Altars, choir stalls, prayer stalls, galleries, pulpits, pews, sacristy cabinets, and shrines
- wooden floors: parquet floors, for example, herringbone parquet or panel parquet, ornamental floors or floorboards
- Wooden gates and doors: entrance doors, courtyard gates, hall doors, wooden room doors
- wooden antiques, such as wooden fans or chandeliers
- wooden room furnishings: wooden wall paneling or portals
- wooden stairs and handrails, balcony railings, exterior galleries, decorative facades, half-timbered ornamental elements, window frames
- Monuments and memorials made of wood: memorials, memorial plaques made of wood, coffins, mausoleums, and burial vaults
- Wooden Park and garden elements: wooden sculptures, temples, gates, artificial ruins, and fences
- Upholstered furniture & utility furniture
- Carriages
Our services
Our services in the context of wood restoration
In all of our services, we strive to combine craftsmanship skills with the scientific knowledge of conservation. As certified restorers, we offer the necessary expertise regarding materials, original manufacturing methods, and historical construction methods. When restoring and conserving a variety of materials, such as metal fittings, leather inlays, and colored papers, we work in an interdisciplinary manner with other restorers and specialized workshops to achieve the best possible results for you.
Our range of services:
We can tell you more about the time of the object's creation and the art-historical style period, special features concerning the material, and, as a supplement to the wood restoration, tips for optimal care. We carry out all restoration measures with the utmost care. We believe that all wood restoration measures must be reversible, i.e. that they can be undone.
Wood restoration in Berlin & Brandenburg:
Restorative woodwork of ZRW Berlin
The range of restorative woodwork includes numerous individual measures, whereby we carefully work on the wooden object and thereby preserve its original substance in a gentle manner. To bring your wooden object to shine again, we may perform the following services:
- clean the wooden object
- check the stability of the construction and fix loose parts,
- perform woodwork on solid or veneered wood, such as gluing, adding wood or veneer parts, or chipping out cracks,
- Perform inlay and marquetry work,
- make drawers and other movable structures operable,
- restore the ability to close and lock chests, cabinets, doors, and drawers,
- reconstruct missing parts and sections.
We use various scientific research methods to determine suitable materials and approaches, identify and date wood species, and analyze binders and pigments. The ZRW Berlin is perfectly equipped. Thanks to our network and close cooperation with other specialist workshops, we can offer you the entire spectrum of services dealing with conservation and restoration.
Restorative surface work of the
Zentralen Restaurierungswerkstatt Berlin
Another service area of our specialist workshop for restoration and conservation is surface work. Here we resort to materials and techniques that ensure that your wooden object - whether large or small - comes to new splendor. To this end, we apply our expertise by
- cleaning the wooden object,
- exposing original surfaces,
- separating coatings,
- we carry out work on the mounts, for example, gluing or consolidating mounts, and supplementing and reconstructing painted surfaces,
- stripping,
- sanding
- varnish,
- polish with shellac, oil, or wax (according to historical standards),
- retouching, such as dot and line retouching, retouching of fire damage with very durable pigments,
- various putties, such as wax putty, chalk putty, shellac, or epoxy putty.
Commission restorative surface work
Commission restorative surface work
Wood additions and reconstructions in the ZRW Berlin
It is not uncommon for used furniture such as tables, secretaries, or cabinets in solid or veneered wood to be damaged or missing parts. With the help of supplementary techniques, we reconstruct lost or damaged areas. To ensure that the wood restoration remains inconspicuous, we visually match the missing areas to the existing environment using varnish and color retouching or the help of consolidation measures of the wood structure.
However, reconstructing missing fragments does not always make sense. In some cases, omission even promotes historical authenticity. To determine the specific approach to be taken with your collector's item, we as restorers ask ourselves the following questions before we commence our work:
- Does the retouching impair the aesthetic effect and tangibility of the object?
- How reconstructible is the wooden defect?
- What are the technological requirements for reproducing the missing wooden parts?
- Do ethical problems arise from the wood replacement?
On this basis, we will develop a suitable restoration concept for your wooden object. If you would like a detailed restoration consultation, our experts at the Zentralen Restaurierungswerkstatt Berlin will be happy to assist you.
Wood restoration in the Zentralen Restaurierungswerkstatt Berlin
Would you like to have a wooden sculpture, a door, or antique furniture restored? Or are you looking for a specialist workshop to implement an altar reconstruction for you? Just contact us!
At the Zentralen Restaurierungswerkstatt Berlin, experienced certified conservators with many years of experience are at your disposal for the professional conservation or restoration of wooden objects. Based on our know-how in conservation, we do our best to refurbish your wooden object in the best possible way and secure its cultural value for posterity.
Feel free to send us directly some overall and detailed photos of the object in question if you would like to receive a non-binding offer. Our experienced wood and furniture restorers around Dipl.-Restaurator (Univ.) Philipp Westebbe will get back to you as soon as possible to arrange a personal appointment at your home in Berlin or Brandenburg. Within a maximum of two working days, we will provide you with an individual offer. We are looking forward to your inquiry!