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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us September 1, 2005 Bringing heirlooms back to life By Cindy Blankenship For the Tidings David Helphand has been restoring antiques and fine art, including oil paintings, for 35 years. Helphand’s career is an exceptionally interesting one: the work itself; the history behind the object, and his clientele, which has included ABC Television Network and Christy Brinkley. He is currently working on a Japanese suit of armor for the University of Oregon at Eugene. David Helphand adjusts a suit of 18th-century Japanese armor he is in the process of restoring. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Working from his home studio in Ashland, Helphand refers to the antiques, heirlooms and fine art he restores as “my revolving collection. I get my hands on things I could never own.” One of his most challenging jobs was making an 18th-century English grandfather clock look as though it had never been dropped down a flight of stairs and broken into 300 pieces. The work, which was a success, involved putting it back together like a puzzle and creating pieces to replace missing ones. While the 18th century Japanese suit of armor didn’t come to him in pieces, its surface was in poor condition. A work of art made for warfare, it is very pliable, yet heavily lacquered for strength. Helphand says the bristly mustache on the mask is a little eerie. Beginning Oct. 8, the armor will greet patrons in one of the new galleries at the University of Oregon at Eugene’s newly renovated Jordan Schnitzer Museum. One of Helphand’s specialties is Oriental lacquer. In spite of its difficulty, Helphand loves this work for its beauty, especially when sprinkled or embedded with gold. The master restorer began his 35-year career as a cabinet maker. “From the day I started as a cabinet maker apprentice, I fell in love with wood working,” he said. After a stint at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as an assistant cabinetmaker, he apprenticed with a furniture restorer who had completed many restorations for the Museum and other prestigious clientele. Helphand has since developed his own successful studios in Manhattan, South Hampton and Santa Monica, Calif. In May 2004, he opened his studio in his Ashland home where he’s lived with his wife and sculptor, Ling for about a year. Helphand’s Southern California clients included ABC. He restored furniture and art in the network’s executive offices. “It was good experience, and it got me lots of clients; 90 percent of work comes from word of mouth.” In South Hampton, his clients included Christy Brinkley for whom he restored furniture, a ship model and a life-sized, 18th-century, articulated mannequin that moved like a real person. “It was beautiful, and it was a wreck,” he said. To replace missing fingers, Helphand took one of the wooden mannequin’s nine-piece fingers apart to see how he would craft new ones. “When I was returning it to Christy’s, I had it seat-belted in the front of my car. People were doing double-takes. There goes Pinocchio,” he says laughing. “He’s beautiful. She has it in her house by their front door with his hand out, welcoming you.” “Not everything is a museum piece,” Helphand adds. “I’m into heirloom consciousness; the sentimental value is as important as the monetary.” He loves hearing stories behind the items he restores, whether it be interesting history, personal meaning or, as in the case of one of his favorites, both. Completing restoration work for a 93-year-old Italian woman, he learned that during World War ll she and her husband’s property was confiscated by Mussolini — all but the personal belongings a Christian neighbor had taken care of for her. “She told me the story of every piece. It was heartbreaking because her daughter was auctioning most of them off …” Helphand said. “I did a work for a lady in Los Angles whose husband was a famous opera singer in the 20s and 30s. He sang at Rudolph Valentino’s funeral,” says Helphand. “She has on her mantel a fabulous Italian figurine that Valentino’s brother had given her husband. “Just coming into contact with these things is precious.” David Helphand can be reached at 482-4238. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams