Bespoke boiseries: a French workshop, from study to finish

It is worth remembering that boiserie (carved wood panelling) was, first and always, made to measure. Until the 19th century, no decorative scheme came off the shelf. The joiner and the carver came to survey the room, draw the panels and cut each moulding for that wall and no other. That is how the great interiors came into being: the panelling at Versailles, the salons of hôtels particuliers (town mansions), the boiseries of grand houses in the provinces. Every profile was conceived for its place, every height adjusted to the room. Industrialisation standardised the moulding; it never replaced this workshop practice for projects that demand precision. Completing an antique boiserie, recreating a period scheme, designing a contemporary one: each calls for the same rigour in measuring and drawing. That is the trade we practise.

This trade spans all our skills: bespoke wall boiseries, wood panelling at dado height or full height, dado panelling to your measurements, dado rails and friezes with a one-off profile, made-to-measure wood mouldings, carved panels to your dimensions or your own motif, trumeaux (overmantel panels), ceiling coffers and ceiling decoration for a complete architectural project. We work as readily in contemporary design as in period styles: bespoke Haussmann-era boiseries, pieces in the spirit of Louis XV or Louis XVI, classical schemes reinterpreted. The workshop is open to private clients, architects and interior designers for the boiserie work on their projects, from a single piece to an entire scheme.

Every project follows the same path through the workshop.

1 - The brief: you set out your project through our dedicated form, attaching whatever you have to hand, such as photographs, measurements, sketches or a mood board. We reply with an initial assessment within 48 working hours.

2 - The survey: where the project requires it, we take measurements on site, the basis for an accurate panel layout.

3 - The drawings: our preparatory drawings (elevations, profiles and carving details) are submitted to you for approval. Feasibility studies are carried out at this stage.

4 - Making: carving and joinery in our workshop, in oak, walnut or another wood species.

5 - Finishing and delivery: stain, wax or patina applied by hand, or preparation for painting, followed by shipping or collection from the workshop.

We do not carry out installation ourselves. Each set leaves with its drawings, so that your joiner or fitter can install it with confidence, and the workshop can liaise with them.

It is a frequent request in older interiors: a few metres of missing moulding, a dado rail interrupted by a newly made opening, a damaged piece of antique boiserie. From a sample, a profile survey or even a precise photograph, we reproduce the moulding like for like, with the same profile, the same wood species and the same ornamental vocabulary, so that the repair goes unnoticed. This faithful copying is also meant for restoration projects involving antique boiseries, in houses of character and hôtels particuliers. We do not work on the period material itself, which is the restorer's job, but we make exact copies of the missing elements, delivered ready to fit. A tip from the workshop: keep the original fragment, even if it is broken. On a real piece, a profile can be recorded to a tenth of a millimetre, whereas from a photograph alone we can come close without being able to guarantee exactness.

The workshop is also open to interior design and fit-out professionals. For an interior architect or interior designer, the workshop takes on the complete boiserie package: we work from your plans and elevations, submit profiles and samples of woods and finishes, then deliver labelled sets, ready for your team to fit, with their layout drawings. The technical drawings go back and forth until they are approved, because it is your project and we are the workshop that makes it. Private clients benefit from this method too: the same dimensioned drawings come with every bespoke order, whatever its size.

There is no universal price per square metre. The price of bespoke boiserie depends on the surface area and linear length, the complexity of the profiles and carving, the wood chosen and the finish. A dado rail with a simple profile, fitted along a few metres, and a drawing room panelled to full height, with moulded panels and a patina applied in several coats, are not the same undertaking. Each project is therefore costed item by item after study, and the initial assessment reaches you within 48 working hours: you quickly know whether your project is realistic and roughly what order of budget it involves.

Ordering your boiseries from the workshop that makes them changes everything, because nothing stands between your project and the workbench. AC Boiseries is a boiserie workshop in the true sense: joinery and carving under one roof, in Cornebarrieu, in the heart of south-west France. As makers of solid wood boiseries, we control the whole process, from selecting the timber to shaping, carving and finishing. That is what allows us to reproduce an antique profile faithfully as well as to design a scheme that exists nowhere else.

Everything begins with the choice of timber. We use solid French woods (oak, walnut, poplar and other species depending on the project), selected dry, straight-grained and free of defects wherever the carving demands it. This choice is no minor detail. Bespoke wood panelling often has to join up with old woodwork, and it is the quality of the material that allows a hand-applied stain and patina to meet the existing work without a break. It is also what ensures the stability of large panels and long runs: poorly dried wood moves and warps, while well-chosen wood lasts for decades.