About us · since 1990
Two traditions, two generations, three professionals
In 1990 two frame specialists joined forces whose paths would otherwise barely have crossed: Marcus Schorn, master gilder and restorer from Düsseldorf — and Frits Peeters, trained woodcarver and frame maker from the Netherlands. With Anna Lisa Schorn, gilder, the second generation now carries the workshop on.
One brings the German gilding trade, the other the Dutch carving tradition. Together that makes a workshop which produces everything in-house, from raw timber to the burnished gold finish.
Marcus Schorn
Master gilder and restorer from Düsseldorf — Vergoldermeister, the German master craftsman’s qualification, awarded after a full apprenticeship and a master’s examination. His field: surfaces, water and oil gilding, toning — and the restoration of what earlier generations finished.
Frits Peeters
Woodcarver and frame maker. Trained in the Netherlands, at home in the tradition of hand-carved mouldings: ornament, incising, veneers. When a frame is made after a period original, it begins under his hands.
Anna Lisa Schorn
Gilder and lover of art, more than twenty years in gilding. She carries the workshop on in the second generation — with the same standards it was founded on.
How we work
To give a work of art a proper and rightful finish — that is how we put our aim from the start. It sounds old-fashioned and it is: it means that the taste of the season does not decide, the best solution for the individual work does. For more than three decades we have worked for galleries, museums and private clients across Europe.
The workshop on Linienstraße
Frame showroom and workshop under one roof. With countless corner samples and sample frames to hand, we choose the right solution for your work together. And we are glad to give you a look at the craft behind it.
Apprenticeships
We have been training apprentices for more than thirty-five years. The gilding trade cannot be learnt from books — it takes years at the object, a steady hand, and someone standing beside you who steps in at the right moment. That is what we pass on: from the first layer of gesso to burnished gold leaf, from handling historical material to the decision that it is better to do nothing.
Anyone training with us works on real pieces from the first year — not on practice boards. Several of our former apprentices now run their own businesses or work in museum conservation studios. Whether this trade has a future is not settled in fine speeches, but by whether somebody passes it on.