Jiri Popelka
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Studied at the Prague Academy of Building and Technical arts. While attending the academy as a young man, Jiri apprenticed in a restoration atelier where woodworking became an obsession. He later decided to continue his master studies at the Technical College in Prague in the special field of artistic woodworking. While at the Technical College Jiri started his first restoration workshop where his full concentration was on furniture from the Biedermeier period. Employing precision and traditional techniques and technologies, his workshop became recognized for its high standards of craftsmanship and it’s aesthetic vision for period furniture restoration. Jiri was later approached by the Czech/American company Metternich Ltd., which was then exporting Biedermeier furniture for their Washington DC showroom. When Metternich joined Iliad in 2000, that union would forge the basis for the long-term cooperation with Iliad Antik NY. As artist and master craftsman, Jiri Popelka became chief of the exclusive atelier for the new organization. Under his guidance, twelve journeyman, apprentices, and polishers restore Iliad’s Biedermeier furniture to an ideal seldom reached in commercial enterprise. Inspired in spirit by the great woodcraft guilds and ateliers like the Wiener Werkstätte or the Danhauser workshop, Iliad’s creed is that Biedermeier furniture reach it’s full aesthetic potential, to make evident the truth and aspiration of the makers original vision, plainly revealing the inherent Modernist yearning at the core of the style.
Today, Jiri combines years experience with Central European antique furniture with his informed and nuanced artistry. With his poet’s sense for veneers, he interprets, and then crafts rendered designs for the new branch of Iliad Antik, Iliad Design. Jiri works closely with Iliad’s cofounder and sculptor/designer Andrea Zemel to achieve unique and exceptional period inspired creations, both functional and beautiful.
