It was a sweltering hot summer day and the gold liquid I had prepared evaporated in the heat halfway through. I had to start all over. It taught me to be persistent.

Each object has a unique story, from restoring a great-grandmother’s trinkets to a monument. In each case, I have to figure out the methods created by masters long before me. Sometimes, like on the foot of a dwarf in the castle of Belvedere, I even find messages they inscribed in their work hundreds of years ago.

Yes, one was a luxury yacht. It was the closest equivalent to embellishing an entire castle back in the old days. We used seven kilos of gold, that is about 80,000 to 90,000 leaves each. We were a team of 15 gilders working on the furnishings, first at the workshop, then spending a month on the boat for the finishing touches.

I worked with a laboratory to develop special varnishes, because of the use and wear on a boat in different weather conditions and the salty air. The most difficult part was creating shiny, rather than matt, finishings on innovative boat materials.