Antwürke - Rekonstruktionen historischer Alltagsgegenstände

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Antwürke - Rekonstruktionen historischer Alltagsgegenstände

Antwürke ist spezialisiert auf die Anfertigung historischer Alltagsgegenstände, vornehmlich auf Lederobjekte und Metallkurzwaren Ihr Alexander Würkner

Der Begriff "Antwürke" stammt aus dem Mittelhochdeutschen und bedeutet nichts anderes als "Handwerker". Mein Ziel ist es, mit Hilfe zeitgenössischer Arbeitsweisen, Alltagsgegenstände aus vergangenen Epochen möglichst korrekt in Form, Material und Ausführung, anzufertigen. Mein Fokus liegt derzeit auf Lederobjekten des 14. und 15.Jahrhunderts aber auch Objekte aus anderen Materialien sowie Gebrauchsgegenstände des späten 18. und frühen 19.Jahrhunderts wurden bereits umgesetzt. Anstatt einer standardisierten Produktpalette arbeite ich mehrheitlich an individuellen Kundenaufträgen. Als Vorlage dienen hierbei entweder Originale, Funddokumentationen oder auch Bildvorlagen. Farbliche Unterschiede durch variierende Ergiebigkeit von zeitgenössischen pflanzlichen und tierischen Farbstoffen, Unterschiede im Oberflächenbild des Leders oder der Maserung des verwendeten Holzes sorgen dafür, dass jedes einzelne Objekt seinen einzigartigen Charakter bekommt und diesen auch im Laufe seines "Lebens" weiterentwickelt. Ich freue mich darauf, auch ihre individuellen Wünsche zu erfüllen. Bitte beachten Sie jedoch, dass bei Auftragsarbeiten Wartezeiten auftreten. Ich danke Ihnen für Ihr Interesse und wünsche Ihnen viel Vergnügen bei Antwürke!

17/06/2026

A few small metal thingies:

Decorative brass pins with amber, sweetwater pearls and sponge coral heads. The construction is based on extant needles with jasper heads from the london finds.
The batch on the right are traditional pins with wound wire heads.

Also a small batch of eyelets for a ladies dress. I always put a little more effort in these because I like mine to be as symmetrical and as perfect as possible. Like some extant originals, these eyes are slightly flattened with a hammer.

12/06/2026

My latest reconstruction of a well known and often copied piece, the needle case of the von Goch heritage from late 14th century Cologne.
This interpretation is slightly larger than the extant case with the decoration adjusted in size.
This is my first interpretation of this case made from "cuir boulli", gelatine soaked and glued leather. The inner case is sewn, while the outer, two layered case has an inner sewn layer and an outer, completely glued one, constructed from thin bovine leather.

The reduced floral decoration covers both the front and the back of the case.

The drawstring is fingerlooped mulberry silk, also made by myself.

31/05/2026

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A 15th century Bauernwehr by Klingenschmiede from Austria has received its new scabbard.
A maple wood core, with a glued layer of linen and an outer layer of bovine leather and a strap of chamoix.

The custom decor features an "ihs" Monogram, a scroll with the words "hilf got" (help god) taken from a contemporary pavise as well as floral motifs taken from an Initial from the "Psalterpostille des Nikolaus von Lyra (Frankfurt am Main 1440), UB Frankfurt Ms. ger,. fol. 2" originally owned by Walter von Schwarzenberg.

21/05/2026

The task was to construct a scabbard for a late 16th century blunt training sidesword.
The problem that arose was a rolled tip which was quite unexpected. So how to construct a scabbard that was sleek and wouldn´t look too chonky and that wouldn´t also leave the blade upward of the crossguard and the rings exposed?

My approach was a layered linden wooden core, which accomodates the rolled tip and two slits at the scabbard mouth that allow the scabbard to pass the crossguard rings.
The wooden core is covered in goat leather.

I think it worked pretty well?!

18/05/2026

Late shift in the Workshop.
Some of my current projects in progress.

07/05/2026

Another project from 2025 yet unpublished (and unfortunately lacking proper photos) - a pair of late medieval belts based on a contemporary painting. Buckles & strap ends formed in wax and cast in copper alloy and sterling silver.
The silver buckles pin and rivets are made of silvered copper alloy.

The strap ends with the integral loop and attached ring are rather common in the area of late medieval Cologne.

17/04/2026

It has been quiet for a while...

2025 was - again - a pretty challenging year and I had almost no time to do anything in the workshop.
But here I am again, presenting one of the few pieces I was able to finish for a friend who partook in some very interesting events remembering the german peasants wars of 1525 in southern Germany.

*contains unpaid advertising*

The Messer and utility knife and pricker were made by Peter Huto of Klingenschmiede in Austria.

I built the scabbard from thin maple slabs, covered in glue soaked linen with an outer layer of undyed goatskin.
The scabbard is deliberately plain and has no decorations at all, befitting a peasants Messer. The belt buckle is made from simple iron.
My goal is to make the scabbards as thin as possible to achieve an nice slim silhouette.

03/05/2025

A blast from the past.

A great project and a great team from research, to metal parts, to ropes, to finished bucket.

Thanks to the Museum of Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle for sharing this again.

25/02/2025

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And finally my personal highlight of 2024. A project that took me a long time to finish and was quite a pièce de résistance.

A case for a set of table knives and a serving fork, a beautiful work by Smederij Klaas Kloosterhuis (www.smederijkloosterhuis.nl)

The case is made in a four-layered construction, the individual knife sheaths and the fork compartment are gelatin-infused and sewn while the outer layers are gelatin-glued.

The decor is based on motifs of an extant piece from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127799/pair-of-knives-unknown/), featuring a hunting dog, a goose and a bird, as well as floral patterns.
The central, heraldic field was replaced by a Christ monogram "ihs" and the banner is inscripted with a note to the cases owner "I gher Helga Zonsius" (I belong to Helga Zonsius) and the year 1476.

The drawstring is made from fingerlooped mulberry silk, joined by a brass ring.

24/02/2025

Next finished project:

A so-called "Bindfutter", a special case for surgical instruments. These were provided by the customer.

The wooden inner case is made from glued maple-boards.
The outer leather shell is decorated with a floral decor.

The drawstring is a simple chamoix leather string.

Adresse

Lerchenstraße 29
Niedermohr
66879

Telefon

+491633937686

Website

https://www.antwuerke.de/

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