Engraved serving tray
Decades of tarnish lifted to bring the chased pattern back. Shown half-treated, so the difference is plain.
Conservation & restoration · South Africa
Restoring memories.
Hand over a treasured object and you're handing over a piece of your history. We treat it that way.
Elegant Rescues works across metals & silverware, ceramics & porcelain, works on paper, antique furniture and heritage buildings - bringing the same care to every piece, whatever it's worth to anyone but you.
Before / after
Engraved silver tray · tarnish lifted
Archival, museum-grade materials only
Insurance & provenance documentation
SA based · Available internationally
Why one studio
Most objects aren't made of just one thing. Neither is the knowledge behind them.
- Metals & silverware
- Ceramics & porcelain
- Works on paper
- Antique furniture & wood
- Heritage buildings
- Kintsugi-style repair
A chair with bone inlay. A frame that's part timber, part gilt. A building of stone and wood. When an object combines materials it often gets passed between specialists - or only half-treated. Adri Loubser trained across all of them, so your piece is handled as a whole, by one person.
What we restore
Six areas of work.
Each object begins the same way - an honest assessment of what your object needs, and a few options for how far to take it.
01
Paper conservation
Works on paper, documents and photographs - foxing, water and mould damage, tears and creasing, and the acidic marks left by an old mount or frame.
Explore → 02Ceramic restoration
Ceramics, porcelain and glass - from a clean break to a shattered piece, unstable joins, the removal of old adhesives and the reversal of failing repairs.
Explore → 03Furniture & wood
Repair, stabilisation and the recreation of missing detail - lost colour and patina, rot, cracks and flaking, woodworm, and water or smoke damage.
Explore → 04Heritage buildings
Survey and sampling reports, moisture and mould diagnosis, and mortar analysis for older structures - and the rising-damp problems they bring.
Explore → 05Metals conservation
Metals corrode and rust with time. Do you keep the patina or polish it? Accidental dents, breakages and staining are problems that I can assist with.
Explore → 06 · SignatureKintsugi-style repairs
Repair made visible. Breaks rejoined and traced in gold, so an object's history becomes part of how it looks - rather than something to hide.
Explore →Selected work
Before, and after.
A few recent pieces. Drag any slider to see where each one started.
Consommé bowl & handle
The handle had snapped off and a section was missing. We modelled the lost piece, bonded it and matched the glaze so the join disappears - even the warm ivory tone is back.
Cream jug
A broken handle and a stress crack through the spout. Rebuilt for strength as well as looks, so it pours again - and survives the next wash-up.
Seated potter figurine
Broken into several pieces. Rejoined and seamed in gold, turning the damage into part of the story.
Character jug
Losses re-modelled and repainted by hand to match the original glaze and palette.
Five case studies and growing - each with the full story of what it took.
See the full portfolio →
Adri Loubser · Conservator-restorer
The conservator
Two disciplines, one pair of hands.
Adri Loubser brings conservation training grounded in research together with years of structured project management - and applies both to every commission.
Her postgraduate work covered the treatment and structural stabilisation of ceramics, paper, metals and historic masonry, with advanced study in materials science, building pathology and preventive care. Her dissertation tackled one of the most stubborn problems in old buildings - rising damp.
Before conservation she spent 14+ years as a digital project manager, the last seven freelance. That's why work here is planned, documented and predictable - not a black box you hand your object into and hope.
You're always shown options and an honest view of what's worth doing. Every piece gets archival, museum-grade materials and the same attention - whether it's a museum-worthy antique or the chipped cup your grandmother loved.
- - Postgraduate DiplomaTechnical Conservation Studies · SA Institute for Heritage Science & Conservation
- - DissertationRemediation of rising damp in historic masonry
- - 14+ yearsDigital project management, seven of them freelance
- - Dip. Information TechnologyCape Peninsula University of Technology
Also available
Consultations & workshops.
Two lighter ways to work together. Booking will open here soon - for now, just get in touch.
One-on-one
Consultations
Online or in person. Bring a photo or the object itself and get a straight assessment, a likely approach, and a realistic sense of cost - before you commit to anything.
Online booking coming soon
Small groups
Workshops
Hands-on sessions on caring for and repairing the things you live with. Dates and topics will be announced here.
Schedule coming soonStart here
Tell us about your piece.
Send a photo and a line about what's happened to it. You'll get an honest reply - what we'd suggest, and what it's likely to involve. Referring on behalf of a client is welcome too.
Every enquiry is treated in confidence. South Africa based; available internationally for the right project.