Old Masters
Craftsmen
French Polisher
Ian Worral
In an age of instant gratification, of products manufactured by automation and robots, the laborious and archaic craftsmanship of French polishing is an anachronism.
French polish is a process, rather than a product; a finely-detailed sequence that can take many weeks to complete a single piece, but results in the most highly-polished wooden surfaces known to man.
And for Ian Worrall, it’s a labour of love. Born in the UK, 65-year-old Ian’s interest in furniture restoration came after a long career in business, successfully importing flowers from around the world. As one of the Old Masters, his skills in the 18th century art of French polishing are responsible for the breathtaking depth and lustre of each individual piece.
How Ian Worrall became one of the Old Masters is pure serendipity. It happens that he lives in the same Fremantle street as Master Jeweller Craig Peters, and the two craftsmen met by coincidence.
For such intricately designed and constructed jewels, no modern techniques can match the finish that results from the painstaking process of the French polisher. French polishing became prominent in the Victorian era, commonly used on mahogany and other expensive timbers to bring out their deep colour and chatoyancy.
It consists of up to 45 thin coats of shellac, the resin secreted by the female lac bug, or beetle, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Each coat is further burnished using a fine pumice called a Rotten Stone. Unlike modern, quickly-applied lacquer finishes, French polish is far more forgiving and can be easily repaired.
“It is very labour-intensive,” says Ian Worrall, “but the result is deeply satisfying. It simply cannot be replicated with modern techniques.”
As Old Masters, we are technically uninhibited & free of all external parameters. We simply design and craft the ultimate masterpieces, sparing absolutely no cost.