Press
Katja Dapous' work has attracted the attention of the national press. Please find below an extract from an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung on 31.august 2004:
Katja Dapous restores damaged grand pianos
A small dose of shellac for the grand Steinway
The skilled cabinet maker is among the few who know how to use the rare secretion
Pöcking – “Shellac Souvenirs”, many of us are familiar with this title of a well-known radio programme of the Bavarian broadcasting corporation (“Bayerischer Rundfunk”). Shellac is commonly known as the term used for pre-WWII gramophone records, for the very reason that they were made of shellac. Having said this, what precisely is shellac? The cabinet maker Katja Dapous fetches a small plastic bag from her workshop. The bag contains thumbnail-sized, golden flakes of which the majority have already dissolved into shimmering crystals. “Shellac is a secretion of the Indian lac insect that deposits the substance on fig or acacia tree leaves”, Katja explains. “When dissolved in alcohol and oil and applied with a cotton ball, shellac yields a protective coating for furniture. It’s vital, however, to get your dose right or else the compound is too stringy or too runny and then it cannot be used. The desiccation process takes a long time. For this reason, polyester is ofte
n used instead, nowadays, as it dries in half an hour. But for many centuries there was no other protective coating for wooden furniture but shellac.
Katja Dapous, born in Gräfelfing is the daughter of a Syrian father and a German mother, and grew up in Syria and later in Munich. Today she belongs to a small group of people who know how to work wish shellac. Katja restores Steinway grand pianos that are damaged after transport or due to old age. If the grand pianos are older than 50 years, their surface layer will be restored with shellac. If the instruments are very much marked by their venerable old age, they need to be fully leached and sanded and will be given a new polyester coating. This was the case with the beautiful old Steinway that belonged to Mr Black in England. The BBC even dedicated a radio program to the restoration of this particular grand piano.
The thirty-year old cabinet maker has been living in an old shack with an integrated workshop in Possenhoffen for the past 4 years. Her professional life had been a myriad of experiences before she took on the remunerative position with the world-famous company Steinway. Now she no longer works there but has chosen a new path for her career to use her knowledge and expertise.
Tell a friend ->
Katja Dapous' work has attracted the attention of the national press. Please find below an extract from an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung on 31.august 2004:
Katja Dapous restores damaged grand pianos
A small dose of shellac for the grand Steinway
The skilled cabinet maker is among the few who know how to use the rare secretion
Pöcking – “Shellac Souvenirs”, many of us are familiar with this title of a well-known radio programme of the Bavarian broadcasting corporation (“Bayerischer Rundfunk”). Shellac is commonly known as the term used for pre-WWII gramophone records, for the very reason that they were made of shellac. Having said this, what precisely is shellac? The cabinet maker Katja Dapous fetches a small plastic bag from her workshop. The bag contains thumbnail-sized, golden flakes of which the majority have already dissolved into shimmering crystals. “Shellac is a secretion of the Indian lac insect that deposits the substance on fig or acacia tree leaves”, Katja explains. “When dissolved in alcohol and oil and applied with a cotton ball, shellac yields a protective coating for furniture. It’s vital, however, to get your dose right or else the compound is too stringy or too runny and then it cannot be used. The desiccation process takes a long time. For this reason, polyester is ofte
n used instead, nowadays, as it dries in half an hour. But for many centuries there was no other protective coating for wooden furniture but shellac.
Katja Dapous, born in Gräfelfing is the daughter of a Syrian father and a German mother, and grew up in Syria and later in Munich. Today she belongs to a small group of people who know how to work wish shellac. Katja restores Steinway grand pianos that are damaged after transport or due to old age. If the grand pianos are older than 50 years, their surface layer will be restored with shellac. If the instruments are very much marked by their venerable old age, they need to be fully leached and sanded and will be given a new polyester coating. This was the case with the beautiful old Steinway that belonged to Mr Black in England. The BBC even dedicated a radio program to the restoration of this particular grand piano.
The thirty-year old cabinet maker has been living in an old shack with an integrated workshop in Possenhoffen for the past 4 years. Her professional life had been a myriad of experiences before she took on the remunerative position with the world-famous company Steinway. Now she no longer works there but has chosen a new path for her career to use her knowledge and expertise.
Tell a friend ->