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»Colourful is my favorite colour.«
∼ Walter Gropius

Deffner & Johann has been supplying the finest pigments and paint systems to restoration and preservation experts, artists and craftsmen since 1880.

Whether natural earth colors or modern, synthetic pigments, our customers can rely on the uniform quality and durability of the products in our portfolio.

From azurite through zink white, we carry more than 500 pigments and binders - so you're sure to find the colour you want for your restoration, craft or artistic project. We also offer a top-quality range of ready-made oil, acrylic and aquarelle paint as well as lime and linseed oil paint for preservation and colour design.

Materials of the highest quality are needed to clean, strengthen, bond, protect and preserve unique works of art.

For over 130 years now, Deffner & Johann has used its experience and expertise to put together an extensive product portfolio.

We are committed to supporting traditional craftsmanship, and we are still able to deliver materials that have disappeared from many shelves. We stay in constant contact with restoration and preservation experts and the academic community, and we continue to add innovative products to our portfolio.

Should you have any particular requirements or should a material you require not be in our product range, please let us know.

Thanks to the breadth of our supplier contacts, we have been able to resolve specific searches for materials many times over for our customers over the years.

Fine brushes have been one of our genuine strengths for many years.

We maintain a continuous dialogue with you, our customers, and with traditional brush makers in the regional and global supply market. Only the very finest brushes are added to the Deffner & Johann product portfolio. To ensure that the brushes we provide are truly first-class, we verify that our partners throughout the world purchase highly elastic materials from the best suppliers. You will find the right tool for any application in our product range: retouching brushes, artists’ brushes (flat or round), aquarelle brushes, oil brushes and brushes for gilding and old artistic techniques. We have been supplying these items for many years, and we can supply the right item for any application.

Material, design and workmanship have top priority at Deffner & Johann. Our brush makers use the finest traditional materials including Siberian squirrel hair, red sable hair and fitch hair supplied from around the world to meet the most discerning needs. New synthetic filaments are also available, so that you get the best results on modern materials.

We test every brush before we add it to the Deffner & Johann catalogue. We do this to guarantee that you always have the brush you want and need for your project. Do not be satisfied with less. Please let us know if you cannot find the brush you are looking for in our product range. We would be glad to help.

Gilding is an art which goes back to ancient times.

If gilding, restoration or church decoration is your specialty, you will find an assortment of carefully selected tools and materials for a variety of gilding techniques at Deffner & Johann.

We source our gold leaf from one of Germany’s oldest gold leaf manufacturers. Discover the variety of gold shades and precious and non-precious leaf. At Deffner & Johann, you are sure to find the material you are looking for. We work together with the Gilding Academy in Munich for the benefit of our customers.

Tools developed at the academy are available exclusively through Deffner & Johann.

The high-quality tools that you acquire while you are training for your future career will last you a lifetime.

High-precision, durable, ergonomically-designed scalpels, sculpting tools and scissors are indispensible tools of the trade. We are proud to have (re-)discovered a number of specialized restoration tools. Our cleaning brushes and knives are well known. Browse through our large selection of products. Our Teflon-coated double spatula, hand-forged Italian palette knife or traditional bookbinder’s knife may well become your favorite tool.

You will be impressed with the quality of our professional-grade products which offer an attractive price/performance ratio.

The right light

To make sure that you as restorers and artists are able to concentrate on the work at hand rather than having to spend time looking for the best light source, Deffner & Johann offers a broad spectrum of lighting solution.

These take into account your individual needs concerning mobility, robustness, intensity, color character or specific frequency spectrum for different challenges in examination and analysis. Our Harolux, Rekoma and Opus lighting products have become firmly-established global products, wherever the right light is needed to equip your working environment professionally.

We regularly expand our offer of innovative lighting solutions, thereby supporting you in applying contemporary and effective procedures for working and analysis. The latest product innovation is the Reskolux range of LED-based high-quality products. These mobile lighting products have been developed by restorers for use in restoration. They are a unique combination of lighting strength, functionality and compactness. As such, they make a vital contribution to professionalism and productivity in a wide range of conservation and preservation challenges.

It has always been vitally important for any creative artist. A good source of light was and is one of the biggest factors to consider when you are deciding where to carry out the work, and it has a very significant effect on the quality of the results. As the sources prove, rooms and buildings for workshops were chosen or built even during Renaissance times with the light conditions as a primary consideration, to create the best possible working conditions for artists and artisans.

Even then, light was already a major factor - for artistic just as much as for financial reasons - in the output of the famous ateliers. In restoration, conservation and preventive work, every bit as much as for the ambitious artist, the question of the right light remains of major importance today.

Deffner & Johann offers the right light for your work, whatever that is. See for yourself by checking out our product range.

Technical appliance supports your careful work in the active protection of historical artworks and artefacts.

Whether we are talking about using a stereomicroscope when excavating a medieval sculpture, or the cleaning of an historic monument, equipment is simply part of your professional kit.

At Deffner & Johann, you will find a wide selection of equipment that has proven its use over many decades, along with devices based on the latest innovations for many restoration and conservation applications.

Products from leading global manufacturers, in-house developments and products developed jointly with universities and restorers make our range of equipment one of the most extensive in the industry. Here, once more, we take account of your individual requirements and varying needs in the best possible way.

Contact-free and non-invasive assessment of historical objects, taking samples for scientific analyzes or consolidation of loose layers of paint or a varnish removal under the microscope – modern technologies support the restoration requirements effectively.

The purchase of a microscope is often a decision for a whole professional life. High-quality components and a bespoke configuration of reliable and proven parts pay off. We at Deffner & Johann rely on best quality. For many years, we have chosen microscope systems from Leica, Schott cold light sources and precision mechanical components as a leading industrial supplier for our studio microscopes.

We also offer digital solutions as well as single workplace installments. All configurations are based on practical experience. Our remarkably robust and mobile floor stand, for example in combination with a stereomicroscope allows you to examine a work of art flexibly, whether you need it in the studio or collection, in the workshop or in-situ.

In combination with state-of-the-art camera technology, the stereomicroscopes offer an additional possibility for exact documentation of your findings.

We have extensive practical experience in microscopic applications in the cultural heritage field and are happy to consult you to find the optimal solution catering your requirements.

Deffner & Johann wants to help you express your creativity on your restoration projects without risking your health.

We carry an extensive range of products to protect your well-being while you work such as extraction units, safety glasses, gloves and storage solutions for hazardous substances.

We have many years of experience in the field of occupational safety. We have the expertise to provide a sophisticated range of protection and safety products which meet stringent requirements to ensure that restoration work can be carried out in a safe and "healthy" environment.

Art Handling

plays a significant role in preventive conservation. It covers preparation work, such as frame building for paintings and graphics, packaging for in-house or transport and mounting for exhibition or depot.

Deffner & Johann presents well-proven and new materials as well as procedures according to the latest standards. They facilitate, enhance safety and help to save costs in art handling.

Picture "Art Transport" © by Edward B. Gordon

The world’s cultural treasures form a vital part of our collective memory.

We see these works on display at exhibitions in a wide variety of settings. It takes considerable expertise to look after these works and preserve them, and they have to be stored with great care in art depots and archives. Each and every work is a precious link to the past.

To make sure that we retain our awareness of the past, Deffner & Johann offers a whole range of items for use in art studios and depots and for protecting items during shipment.

Our portfolio includes functional furniture such as ergonomic chairs and quality easels, packaging products, storage and suspension systems and moveable racks which help you preserve our cultural heritage and research the past. We are also committed to supporting contemporary art.

A reference book can be much more than just a book about a particular topic which is only of interest to a small circle of specialists.

Good reference works are knowledge repositories, textbooks and practical workbooks all in one.

At Deffner & Johann, you will find a large selection of highly recommended books on restoration and conservation. We have put together a collection of the best and most readable books. You have access to scientifically sound information that you can rely on, or the books are so beautiful that you simply have to have one.

Add the must-have reference works or practical guides to your personal library.

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Deffner & Johann on Tour: 11th Restorers' Day of the VDR in Kassel

Deffner & Johann on Tour: 11th Restorers' Day of the VDR in Kassel

Deffner & Johann on Tour: 11th Restorers' Day of the VDR in Kassel

Posted in: Blog

by Deffner & Johann

Meet us at the 11th Restorers' Day

11th Restorers's Day of the VDR in the KulturBahnhof; Kassel Finally, it's that time again – under the motto "SPUREN suchen. GESCHICHTE(N) finden – Wissenschaften am Kulturgut" ("Looking for traces. Finding history – science in cultural assets"), the Verband der Restauratoren (Association of Restorers) can now, after a three-year break due to corona, hold the 11th Restorers' Day, an interdisciplinary conference of the VDR, as well as its 20th General Meeting in the culturally rich documenta city of Kassel in Germany.

When ¦ 02 to 04 November 2023
Where ¦ KulturBahnhof, Tagungszentrum Südflügel, Rainer-Dierichs-Platz 1, 34117 Kassel

Welcome to the Deffner & Johann-Booth

The event days are entirely dedicated to international and interdisciplinary exchange, as well as a variety of projects and activities that Deffner & Johann has been happy to support and promote as a sponsor since the founding of the VDR.
Once again, we would like to invite you to our stand to to find out about product innovations as well as tried and tested products and to discuss restoration solutions with us.

Work histories and transformations

As a professional and technical association, the VDR represents the interests of around 3,000 restorers of all disciplines in Germany. The main concerns of the VDR are the protection and proper preservation of art and cultural assets while respecting their material, art-historical and aesthetic significance.

The conference deals with the multifaceted changes to which art and cultural objects from all centuries are subjected, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
For Thursday and Friday, 32 lectures will present and discuss various forms of alteration to art objects, e. g. by the creator himself, by restorative measures, due to chemical ageing processes or also for ethical and political reasons, and how to deal with them.

The conference brochure including the programme can be found here.

We look forward to the 11th Restorers' Day with you and wish you a wonderful time in Kassel.

October 31, 2023

© Deffner & Johann GmbH