Interview
with Robert Cain
Photography
by Laura Mate
This exclusive interview with The English Polisher Robert Cain was
conducted in Harrogate, UK by Nicola Linza and Cristoffer Neljesjö during
August 2017.
How did your family get involved in
French polishing?
My grandad (dad’s side) was a master tailor, and tinkered with woodwork as an escape from cloth... my dad left school and at 15 had to get an apprenticeship, back then to get on the trade ladder things were quite tough back then in Beeston, Leeds. Dad actually wanted to do a cabinet makers course, a far more creative job some might say, the firm offering apprenticeships at the time was I believe named William Nicholson. They offered dad an eight year apprenticeship in the polishers shop. I remember dad saying how gutted he was as everyone in there was so old, little did he know these were the last years of these places and the value these gentleman offered him was going to be life changing. He went to work stripping and prepping for three years before he was allowed to touch polish or colours.
What do you find most appealing about the field of antique restoration?
The most
appealing thing about it is the therapy of polishing, getting to know your
piece first then being able to add your own touch by-hand to enhance its age
and beauty. Like a stately homeowner I am a caretaker for a short time, while
adding something good to it for the next person to enjoy. When you have worked
out how you can help and then you start, you are almost in a state of trance. I
always make sure I have some good music to enhance the moment, sometimes I have
to walk away then come back and stare …and then I see what it really is I’m
doing. A good lesson in life… it is therapy for the mind.
Do you have a favourite piece you have worked on to-date?
People often ask what’s the most exciting piece I have worked on and I always answer this by saying humbly I have worked in great halls, on huge wind out tables, clocks, fine walnut furniture, a trillion great staircases, pianos, chests family heirlooms I can’t think to-date of something I have never polished, but this really is my answer: It’s the place you remember, sometimes more than the piece, and like everyone’s first love you never forget how and where you were. I was only young 15 or 16 in the summer holidays and dad was doing his bit for our local childhood village of Rawdon in Leeds. St Peters Church was the location and we were restoring the front door and vestibule entrance, pews and so on, I will always remember then it sinking into me that I was in a lovely place all in full bloom the scent of summer and beeswax always fills the air so well, even now, the peace and escapism it provided and the good we were doing … it’s a place I still return to from time-to-time when I need to remember or have a re-focus.
There is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson saying; “Our admiration of the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural.” Can you relate to that or what is your admiration of the antique?
My admiration of the antique is simple; I must be first able to see its age. This then tells a story and we must see its journey clearly to the eye, good age and a good preservation will let us see this then if it has these simple things you can stand and stare and read your way through time. You can let your mind be free to travel as you stare at this story of the past, to admire an antique is to admire an old tree still living, weathered by the years and time on of this earth, but ever giving and ever changing what has this tree or item of furniture seen. I really do believe you can feed from this, the same as good wine and an old food book. To ignore an antique is to ignore art itself.
You can have your portrait done by any artist either living or deceased, who would it be by? And why?
I have often dreamed of a painting to capture myself or the trade or my father. I think I would like the artist Frances Bell. She is young but is classical in her technique, and like me she has learnt an old method and is now using it in a very fast and changing world. I also think her art will age well as an antique of the future, some modern materials and art forms plastics and such just won’t feed the future for me. I’m certainly not Modern. I love a lot of colours and lines I see today, however I think she captures the now very well and I can already look into her work and feel a message, not only in her portraits but in her landscapes and animal works too.
The above interview with Robert Cain 2017 © Manner of Man Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.
