REALISATION, CUSTOM-MADE WOODCARVING AND ORNAMENTS. REPRODUCTION OF LIEGE STYLE FURNITURE AND HERALDIC SCULPTURES.
Welcome to my Blog This is a place where the visitors are confronted with their search for a personal touch and where they have an opportunity to get acquainted with a skilled expert, who has turned durability and tradition into a personal passion.I hope this will become a valued and rich source of inspiration and knowledge. Please Leave comments and enjoy your visit. Please note text and pictures on this blog are Copyright protected.
Dutchmagazine for heritage and
restoration Magazine for heritage and
restoration
A few months ago, we had
the privilege of performing an extremely interesting restoration. In the March 2013 edition,
the prominent Dutch magazine Monuments will publish an extensive article about
this unique restoration.
Castle of Lembeck (Germany)
A gilded chandelier that has been hanging in the Schlaun’sche Hall, inside
Castle Lembeck in Dorsten (Westfalen, Germany) for many generations. The chandelier was
carved from limewood and composed of many individual ornaments. It’s in rococo
or late baroque style.
The chandelier has
sustained severe damage during and after the Second World War. To prevent even
more damage by the ravages of time, leaving no or very little undamaged
ornaments to restore the chandelier in an appropriate manner, it was decided to
restore the chandelier straight away. The restoration took place in 2012 and
was performed over the course of several months. The decision to restore the
chandelier fortunately was a timely one, seeing as it was already quite a challenge
to find out what the missing ornaments looked like or might have looked like.
Over these past
years, I’ve come upon the following conclusion : a whole branch of
extremely competent professionals, some of them even unique in their line, are
nowadays meetingincreasing difficulty
to make our society aware of the extreme urgency to preserve and valorize this
healthy part of our heritage, with a particularly rich historical background,
that is: craftsmanship.
The trend to the
standardization and leveling of our interior decoration which is taking over
the consumable market is quite lethal to the craftsmanship trades.
For some
time now,I have been in touch with professionals like me, sometimes just out of
curiosity or when collaborating on a common project or while combining our
talents for an order to carry on.
The real
craftsmanship, our own heritage is gradually dwindling and with time has gained
themisleading reputation of being
obsolete or marginal.
While trying to
meet other « Artisan » colleagues and through my personal vision and
also my love for my calling, I am a wood carver (I design and make wood
ornaments), I eventually came across the organizers of Classica 2011.
And they
are the ones who saw the interest of a “Craftsmen’s pavilion”, a place where
the visitor would be offered the opportunity of meeting true craftsmen. I was
asked by the organization committee to put together a group of craftsmen
belonging to the different branches (mainly interior decoration) in order to
present their trades in the form of practical workshops to the public.
Classica 2011 has
been a great success for our group and a wonderful experience. I must thank
warmly the press for their fantastic work that we benefitted by and contributed
to the “Craftsmanship” pavilion‘s success.
So during ten
days, I participated to that event with about 22 other craftsmen, true and
eager professionals. The same recurrent problems, the same needs the same
vision kept stemming out of our conversations, which took me to the conclusion
that we are all workers sharing the same preoccupations.
It was also necessary
to get together and be under the same “roof”, share an internet site, vouching
for quality, free of any external influence or authority, for it sounds quite
obvious that we, the professionals, are the most qualified to judge of the
quality of work pertaining to each trade.
Hence an internet site that tells of
true craftsmanship, has been in progress along the past months, a site eliciting
top grading work from each participating craftsman, offering a rich range of
propositions both for the individual client and the corporate such as
architects, or restoration firms.
« Pearls of
Craftsmanship » can be a source of inspiration for many, in their quest
for personalization why not, just some surprising encounter. This site has
already 20 members, 17 Belgians and 3 Dutch and it will steadily grow
with the addition of new members from other sectors.
Each new member will have
to meet the same quality standards for our quality label to be preserved.
They
will be selected not only according to their professional line but also to
their specificity in their field, in their profession (whether in Belgium,
Europe or even worldwide), or their existing over several generations. Whether
they be masters in their field,using
new or traditional techniques, they open up new ways, they are devoted, utterly
professional and working full time yet participating increasingly to workshop
demonstrations or to different events to introduce the public with their
knowhow.
'Pearls of
Craftsmanship' promotes craftsmanship of the highest quality and consists of
carefully selected members and crafts. This site brings together extremely
gifted artisans with an exceptional knowledge of their trade and with
historically grown traditional crafts, neatly balanced with contemporary
originality.
This is a place where the visitors are confronted with their search for a
personal touch and where they have an
opportunity to get acquainted with skilled experts, who have turned durability
and tradition into their passion. True pearls among the crafts that manage to stimulate and inspire through their
originality and broad perspective
'Pearls of Craftsmanship' is for those who wish to surround themselves with the
highest degree of perfection and taste. It wants to offer an alternative for
the unsatisfying standard solutions you have to settle for (sometimes for no
apparent reason) in our modern day consumer society.
As Rococo
masterpieces in their own right, the Palaces Augustusburg and Falkenlust and
their gardens have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Building work on the Palace Augustusburg, a
favourite residence of Clemens August von Wittelsbach, Elector and Archbishop
of Cologne (1700-1761), began in 1725. The initial architect was the
Westphalian Johann Conrad Schlaun. From 1728 to 1768, François de Cuvilliés,
the Electoral Bavarian court architect, oversaw its development into the
outstanding residence of that time.
The core of the palace is the grand staircase built according to the plans of
Balthasar Neumann. The baroque gardens were created in the French style by
Dominique Girard.
Augustusburg Castle
The first
documentary reference to Brühl was recorded in the year 1180.
This was when
Archbishop Philipp von Heinsberg of Cologne founded a manor house to administer
the local estates which quickly became a significant local seat.
In 1285 Brühl
received its city charter from Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg and
self-administering courts were established. In 1469 Brühl became the capital of
the county and was also chosen as the residence of the Cologne Archbishops. For
almost 150 years the Cologne Archbishops territory was ruled from Brühl.
In 1689 the castle was blown up by foreign troops and later most of the
town was destroyed by fire. Brühl recovered from this catastrophe and in 1725
Elector Clemens August let the palace Augustusburg be built on the ruins of the
old castle by Conrad Schlaun and later by Francois de Cuvillies. Its famous
roccoco staircase was designed by Balthasar Neumann.
Clemens August had two reasons for choosing this site: because of its beautiful
surroundings and its convenient situation for falconry, which was one of his
passions.
After the dismissal of Conrad Schlaun, Cuvillies developped a new
general plan in 1728 for the alteration and improvement of the initial building
only just completed by his predecessor.
He changed the building´s original
character as a moated castle into a modern residence.
The architect Balthasar Neumann first visited Brühl in 1740, in the following
years he stayed for longer duration to plan the staircase. Later the completion
was taken over by the court architect Michael Leveilly and his excellent team.
staircase in Palace Augustusburg
From 1747-1750 Carlo Carlone painted the ceiling, frescoes of the staircase,
the ajoining rooms and in the Nepomuk chapel.
When Clemens August died in 1761 the work in the main rooms was still going on.
His successor Elector Max Friedrich von Königsegg (1761-1784) completed these
rooms according to the designs of his predecessor. In 1769 Augustusburg was
completed after more than 40 years of building.
In the aftermath of the French Revolution the Electorate of Cologne ceased to
exist. The palace was taken by French troops who pillaged all of the remaining
furniture and when Napoleon saw the palace in 1804 he is supposed to have
regretted the fact that it had no wheels. He gave it to his Marshal Davoust,
who neglected it in a way that it fell into delapidation.
In 1815 the palace passed into Prussian owner-ship. Thanks to King Friedrich
Wilhelm IV. the building was saved. He first stayed here in 1842 and then
ordered that the rooms should be renovated.
After being overhauled the palace
Augustusburg was used again as a residence in 1876/77 when Emperor Wilhelm I.
took part in the Autum manoeuvres in the Eifel.
German Rococo Style Interiors
The palace was seriously
damaged in World War II. In 1944 a bomb hit the North wing and in 1945 the main
wing was hit by an artillery barrage. The most pressing repairs were begun in
the same year, which were continued on a larger scale as a complete restoration
of the building.
Today the palace belongs to the government of North
Rhine-Westfalia.
