Antique boiserie reproduction, made to match

The boiseries of a Haussmann-era drawing room, an 18th-century residence or a maison de maître are not decoration brought in from elsewhere: they are period joinery, designed and assembled for that particular place, with panels set out to fit the walls they cover, mouldings cut from selected timber and finishes that have taken on a hundred years of patina. That is what gives them their value, and why they should never be replaced lightly: an antique scheme, once dismantled and thrown away, cannot be bought back. So when an element is missing or can no longer be saved, the right approach is not to redo the whole wall but to remake the missing piece, exactly as it was, so that the whole regains its coherence. This work of faithful copying is what our workshop practises.

We make like-for-like copies of interrupted runs of period mouldings and dado rails, friezes, moulded panels, missing carved elements, trumeaux (overmantel panels) and overdoors: made new in solid wood, toned to approximate the existing work, and supplied with their drawings. Taking down and fitting are left to your joiner, with whom the workshop can liaise. However, we do not work on the period material itself. Regluing a period panel, reworking an original patina or treating wood attacked by insects or decay is a job for a restorer, either your own or our partner. On the finest projects, the two complement each other: the restorer preserves what can be preserved, and the workshop makes what has to be remade.

Everything starts with photographs. Send us overall and close-up views with a few measurements: within 48 working hours, an initial assessment tells you what can be reproduced, and from what. The best starting point is a reference piece: an original fragment, even a broken one, allows the profile to be recorded as accurately as possible; failing that, a survey or a usable photograph gets us close. Next comes the profile drawing, submitted for your approval, then making in our workshop, in oak, walnut, poplar or the species identified in the original, and the hand-applied finish: toned to approximate the existing work, or left raw if your painter is redoing the whole scheme. Finally, the piece leaves with its drawings, ready to be fitted by your joiner.

The requests that reach our workshop tend to be alike: a dado rail interrupted by a newly made opening or a duct run, a moulding torn off during building work, a carved element broken and lost, a section of panelling missing in a room whose layout has changed. In every case the logic is the same: leave what is sound, remake what is missing. One piece of advice above all: keep everything that falls off or is taken down, even in pieces. A real fragment is worth more than any survey, and it is often what makes the difference between an exact copy and an approximation.

On heritage projects involving antique boiseries, our workshop acts as the maker: we produce new elements made to match, working from your surveys, your specifications or the elements taken down, and we supply what your files require, namely profile drawings, samples of woods and finishes, and sheets describing how the pieces are made. If the building is listed (inscrit or classé in France), work on a historic monument goes through the architecte des bâtiments de France (the state-appointed heritage architect), and sometimes through a heritage architect: a documented reproduction, with its wood and profile justified, has its rightful place there. Restorers, joiners, project managers: the technical drawings go back and forth until they are approved, and you carry out the installation.

As each piece is remade to measure, the price depends on the length or dimensions, the complexity of the profile and carving, the wood and the finish. To give a sense of scale, our catalogue provides a few benchmarks: a personalised dado rail starts at €169, an ornamental panel at €349. With photographs and a few measurements, the workshop replies within 48 working hours, and the detailed, itemised quote is free. Tell us about your boiserie: you will know whether the piece can be reproduced, and at what budget.