Restoration doesn't only mean to replace missing pieces. It's about breathing life into witnesses of a time period. Passed on from generation to generation, they bear the history of an art, a culture, an era. Thus, when restoring a damaged cultural artifact, the authenticity as historical document has to be preserved as well. Consequently, each restoration pursues the maxim "as much as necessary, as little as achievable".

 

Damage phenomena of straw marquetry are complex. Due to unfavorable storage conditions, mechanical damages and aging processes, many different damage symptoms can occur, which require an adjusted treatment. Moreover, the common combination with other materials such as paper and/or textiles, which need to be considered for conservation and restoration treatments as well, can be quite challenging. The same applies for different coatings on the straw marquetry that were often added during earlier reworking and now are causing further damages.

 

After a detailed analysis of the present damage mechanisms and taking account of the applied materials and production technologies, an individual conservation and restoration treatment for every object is being developed. Moreover, all employed materials and methods are preferably reversible. As various as the objects and their stories are, they equally differ in their treatments.