Designer Furniture Refinishing by European craftsmen- top quality work est. 1950





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Furniture Refinishing
Furniture Refinishing is often the most dramatic procedure of restoration. Refinishing can be as unobtrusive as touching-up scratches or damages on-site, or might require the complete removal of existing finish, dyeing and staining and application of a new finish. If an original finish can be maintained, that is often the preferred alternative. However, finishes used from the very beginning of the 20th century until today were usually nitrocellulose lacquer, or later derivative of lacquer or other catalyzed finish. These modern finishes contain plasticizers that evaporate out of the finish over a period of decades, and when the plasticizer is gone, or light damages the finish, the finish is brittle, heat marks badly, loses adhesion with the wood beneath, and generally performs poorly in use. Such finishes are usually better to remove than trying to save. Any finish put over the top of such a brittle finish, will transmit its problems through any new finish put over them. It might look alright for some months, but when seasonal humidity changes induce additional checking or crack marks in the finish below, will transmit right through the new finish, and will look worse than the defects did on the original finish.

Lacquer finish chipped out of center and yellowed elsewhere before	Lacquer finish chipped out of center and yellowed elsewhere after
Dining Table Refinished, Glossy Closed Pore:

Glossy Closed Pore Dining Table After	Glossy Closed Pore Dining Table Before
Other historic finishes, such as French polish (shellac applied by special technique), or wax, may often be refurbished, a preferable alternative especially for 18th or 19th century American furniture. An old French polished piece can be so oxidized that it looks like it was painted black, and then in a fire with the finish checked (“alligatored?, and can still be an excellent candidate for refurbishing rather than stripping and refinishing. Wax can also be maintained indefinitely.
Early 18th Century Queen Anne Period Marquetry Chest of Drawers, after French Polishing:

Desk refinished by French Polishing, High Gloss:


Chinese camphor wood chest with paint spattered and stains, removed without stripping. Existing finish refurbished
Modern Root Table, refinished:

Furniture Refinishing to Change Color and match other furniture:


Typical 1st half 20th Century Dining Table Top before and after
Turn of the Century Vitrine:


After stripping
Skillful refinish depends on careful preparation. If the finish is not removed thoroughly, the new finish will not last as it should and will be susceptible to loss of adhesion, cloudiness or flaking off of the finish. Sanding is another critical issue. Sanding the wood thoroughly will remove wood bleached over the years of exposure to light, and erases the patina of the furniture. Loose or missing veneer and inlays must be reglued or replaced.

Sun Bleaching of Rosewood on Herman Miller Eames Chair:

Sunlight bleaching. The light rosewood on the outside of the upper shell of an Eames Lounge lookzed like the rosewood of the lower shell on the inside of the Lounge below it over 30 years ago, but it was covered by upholstery and didn't bleach from light
Sanding will make the furniture look newer, no matter how old the furniture is. Sanding is a critical question to discuss with the client, to attain results anticipated by the client.
Chinese Rosewood Antique Desk

Sunbleaching of the exterior of these Chinese Desk pedestals leaves the wood color highly uneven; to sand or not to sand? The answer to this question by its owner was to sand:

17th or 18th Century Ships' Table Refinished to remove gray/black discoloration from humidity

Table before refinish	Gray/black bacterial discoloration from humidity

Table stripped, bacterial gray discoloration eliminated	After refinish, shellac & wax finish
Danish Modern Oil-Finished Dining Table before and after refinishing and veneer inlays:


Removing lacquer finish and refinishing natural color
Old water stains, appearing as black blemishes in the wood, may be removed chemically with the proper acid, that might not be removable by sanding, as such staining can be over 1/4" deep, and veneer is only 1/40" on modern furniture, or less. Such stains can be removed without altering the patina of the furniture, and can dramatically improve the appearance without sanding. Staining and dyeing are also key elements in successful refinishing. By combining the use of dyes and stains, an antique patina may be reproduced and very difficult for an expert to discriminate between an original finish, and refinished wood. We employ European artists trained as classical artists in four or five-year European college level art schools, that possess exceptional abilities in color matching, and graining damaged or replacement wood elements, to blend in inlaid with adjacent wood. Our artists are key factors in our being able to say, “if you can see repair work, then it has not been well done”. Under the hands of a skilled touch-up artist, damages disappear.

American Queen Anne Chinoiserie Desk, with Chinese Lacquer, Gold & Platinum Leaf, and Polychrome Decoration, ca. 1720: When to Conserve rather than Refinish Our client used this desk over 35 years, not having an inkling when it was made, or its rarity. Or that such a vibrant, lively gilded scene laid beneath the dark, grimy surface of the desk, partially cleaned below. The client wanted it to be refinished. The perseverance of Olek's craftsmen conserved rather than refinished this desk for its grateful owner, and for future generations to appreciate. Removing the grime and layers of varnish over the gilding, without removing the delicate gold leaf, required great patience, as did infilling missing elements of the design.

Conserved, not refinished



Woodrow Wilson Table at Princeton College - refinished



Faux finishing of an inexpensive carved mirror, to give it more of an old walnut feel.
Cabinet used for Retail Display at Juicy Couture This Victorian Period Mahogany and Bamboo display cabinet, was left largely distressed, with some repair of missing elements, and then refinished in a whitewash glaze:

Missing bamboo pilasters replace, missing base mahogaany and beveled tempered glass replaced, and refinished

Our expertise includes the repair and refinishing of modern fiberglass , wood, and metal furniture by Herman Miller, Arne Jacobsen, George Nelson, Pierre Paulin, Jean Prouve, Vladimir Kagan, Eero Aarnio, Cassina, B & B Italia, Artifort, Stendig, Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Gehry, Gaetano Pesce, Vigo Magistretti, Ettore Sottsass, Mario Bellini, Verner Panton, Wendell Castle, Olivier Mourgue, Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Tobia Scarpa, Gerrit Rietveld, George Nakashima, Warren Plattner, Geoffrey Harcourt, Joe Columbo, Charlotte Perriand, Eero Saarinen, Franco Albini, Marco Zanuso, Gio Ponti, Poul Kjaerholm, Sari Yanagi, Isamu Noguchi, Aalvar Aalto, Norman Cherner, Harry Bertoia, Erwine & Estelle Laverne, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward J. Wormley, Eva Zeisel, Robbsjohn Gibbings, Jens Risom, Eileen Gray, Bruno Mathsson, Marcel Breuer, Russell Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig mies van der Rohe, Charles Rene McIntosh, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner, Antonio Gaudi, Emile Galle, Louis Majorelle, Michael Thonet, Carlo Mollino, Florence Knoll, Philippe Starck, Milo Baughmann, and Karl Springer, and other notable designers and manufacturers. Lastly, the selection of a finish is important to the client for the furniture to stand up to its intended use without damage. The unique usage pattern for each piece a client owns, and the clients’ preferred appearance determines whether a regular lacquer finish Is appropriate, or a French polish finish, polyurethane, compounded “piano finish”, oil, wax, or other finish. Our shop has the ability to work with any of these finishes, as well as other specialty decorative finishes, including faux marble, faux wood, and trompe l’oeil.