Although I focused on book restoration at the start of my career, I soon expanded into other areas of paper restoration. My journey into poster restoration began due to two key factors. The first was the opportunity to restore the estate of the renowned Czech architect and urban planner Prof. Antonín Engel. Here, I learned to work with large formats like his building sketches and urban plans. The second factor was my involvement in comic book restoration, a field in which I am one of the few specialists in the Czech Republic. Comics are closely linked to Kája Saudek, the king of Czech comics and creator of many beautiful movie posters.
Since then, poster restoration has become a significant part of my work, now making up 90% of my professional activities. It is a wonderful job where I encounter exquisite examples of typographic and graphic art. With the arrival of international clients, my work's scope has expanded even further, making me feel like I have my dream job.
My experience spans work for private collectors as well as prestigious institutions such as the National Library of the Czech Republic, the National Gallery of the Czech Republic, the State Regional Archive in Prague, and the National Library in Jerusalem. From 2007 to 2017, I served as a paper conservator at the Jewish Museum in Prague, where I also led the paper conservation studio.
I continuously look for new methods, treatment approaches, and materials, and I actively educate myself to stay in touch with current best practices in the field. I do not see poster conservation as a single fixed procedure, but as a spectrum of options—and the right approach depends on both the object and the client’s expectations. Some collectors want a poster to look as close to “new” as possible; others prefer to preserve its historical character and atmosphere. I genuinely enjoy communicating with clients and finding the most suitable treatment strategy for each individual piece.
In 2015 I was granted a license by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic to restore cultural monuments in the following scope:
"Licence No. MK 28055/2015 OPP: Restoration of works of arts and crafts made of paper and parchment - historical book bindings, tracing papers, maps, plans and prints"
In February 2024, the Czech news website Aktualne.cz (one of the country’s major online news outlets) visited my studio and recorded a short video interview about my work as a paper conservator and poster restorer. The interview is in Czech but with English subtitles.
