Craftmanship
Posh Trading Company, a family-run British tableware brand, was founded in 2015 by award-winning interior designer Sarah Ward, focusing on creating products with personality, elegance, and style, inspired by her Far East experiences and her love for elegant and unusual items.
The Craftmanship of Posh Trading Company...
There are many processes to transform a product made of MDF / Wood / Poly-resin / Fiberglass into a beautiful solid-colour lacquer product, or silver leaf lacquer product, or special pattern lacquer product.
Step 1: Treatment of surface, joints, cutting sections
The carcass to lacquer is waterproofed using a liquid glue, allowing for water sanding for a mirror-like finish. After drying, the piece is cleaned of holes, dents, scratches, and imperfections using sealers and a hard paste. Dry sanding is performed multiple times to achieve the desired surface smoothness.
Step 2: Primer coatings on the surface
Primer coating involves applying multiple layers of primers and sanding multiple times to create a smooth, hard, and thick surface for lacquer layers. Micro-holes are filled with hard putty paste, and finer sanding grit papers are used to smooth the primer layers. Steps 1 and 2 aim to build strong adhesion between the substrate and final coatings to prevent lacquer chipping and paint migration. Good primers should be carefully selected based on filling ability, surface hardness, bonding, solid content, and thickness.
Step 3: Silver leaf application / Gilding
The lacquer artisan applies silver leaves, applying bonding lacquer glue/paint on the primer surface, then burnishes the leaf-covered surface using surgical grade cotton to achieve a high luster level.
Step 4: Lacquer coating, tint and colour, and water sanding
The final colour of a silver leaf base is achieved through colour coatings, giving it a "tinted" appearance. For lacquer without silver leaf, step 3 is skipped and the final colour is applied directly. The final lacquer layers have anti-yellowing properties, ensuring minimal colour change. Water sanding is required for a glossy, mirror-like finish.
Step 5: Surface decoration
Step 5 creates an attractive tinted silver leaf lacquer or mirror-like solid color lacquer. Additional decoration and patterns can be manually applied by craftsmen to enhance the lacquer's beauty. These extra layers are applied before clear lacquer coatings, which can be glossy or matte in finish.