Seven Days. One Master Teacher. A Lifetime Skill.
Australia's only professional gilding training, taught by Karl and Brigitte Eggert in their South Hurstville studio.
50+ years of craft · Parliament House NSW · Sydney Town Hall · Sydney 2000 Olympic chariot
Three start dates this season. Intimate, hands-on training.
This isn't a hobby class.
Karl trained in Germany over fifty years ago, in a tradition that goes back centuries. He's worked on Parliament House NSW, Sydney Town Hall, and the Sydney 2000 Olympic chariot. The Master Gilding Course is the most thorough training we offer.
Seven days, one-to-one attention, every technique we know. By the end, you'll have built a foundation in a craft that very few people in this country can teach.
What makes this different from any other course you'll find: we are the only people teaching professional gilding in Australia and New Zealand. And after you graduate, you can work alongside us on real paid heritage projects.
This is for people who want a craft they can build a career on, expand a creative practice with, or take into their own restoration or design business. It's an intense, focused week of work. It's also one of the most rewarding weeks you'll ever have.
— Brigitte 💛
Built for people serious about the craft.
- Artists and painters adding a new dimension to their work
- Furniture restorers wanting to charge more for higher-end finishes
- Frame makers and conservators
- Interior designers who want to specify and deliver gilded work themselves
- Heritage tradespeople and architectural finishers
- Career-changers serious about a craft they can practise for life
A full grounding in the craft.
Water Gilding
The highest finish in the craft. This is the technique you'll use on frames, statues, and studio pieces - the kind of work done on antique frames, cathedral altars, and museum-grade restorations. You'll learn surface preparation on timber, gesso, bole application, laying the leaf, and burnishing with agate to a solid gold finish.
Oil Gilding
The technique used exclusively for exterior and architectural work - signage, facades, outdoor commissions. Oil-based gold size is designed for outdoor conditions. This is the method Karl has used on heritage projects across Sydney, including Parliament House NSW.
Antique Patinas and Ageing
How to make a freshly gilded surface look like it has been there for two hundred years. The technique that separates good gilders from extraordinary ones.
Restoration Approaches
How to assess damaged gilded pieces, match existing finishes, and bring antique work back to life without overwriting its history.
Materials Mastery
Working confidently with Dutch metal, aluminium leaf, copper, and imitation silver. When to use each. How they age. How to seal them properly.
Pricing and Working with Clients
Karl and Brigitte have run a heritage gilding business for fifty years between them. They'll teach you what to charge, how to scope a job, and how to work with conservators, designers, and homeowners.
Food Gilding
At the end of the course, we show you how to apply edible gold leaf to food and drinks. You'll gild TimTams, fruit, and learn how to add gold leaf to wine and other liquids - a celebration of everything you've learned, and a technique our graduates love.
They came on a Saturday. They left with this.
Real paid projects. Alongside Karl and Brigitte.
Most courses end on the last day. Ours doesn't.
Master Course graduates can work with us on real paid heritage and architectural projects. We bring you onto jobs we've been hired to deliver: private restorations, commercial commissions, heritage work. You get experience on the kind of project you can't replicate in a classroom.
This is the only graduate pathway of its kind in Australia and New Zealand, because we are the only professional gilding teachers in this country.
You also get lifetime access to the Academy: ongoing advice, materials at trade pricing, and a place to come back to when you need a second opinion on a tricky job.
The only gilding teachers in Australia and New Zealand.
Master Gilder, Karl Eggert, is internationally recognised as a leader in the world of gilding.
Since starting his training as an apprentice and becoming a Master Gilder in his late 20s Karl has worked around the world, advising and educating a legion of trainee gilders. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for excellence, Karl's reputation for commitment and high standards has seen demand for his services come from numerous prestigious projects.
A desire to share his skills led to the establishment of the Art Gilding Academy. Thousands of students from across the world have attended his classes, with particular demand for the intensive Master Gilding Course.
Seven days, designed to build on each other.
Foundations
History, theory, materials, surface science. The why before the how.
Water Gilding Begins
Gesso preparation, bole application, the first leaves laid.
Water Gilding Mastery
Burnishing, troubleshooting, building up your first finished piece.
Oil Gilding
Exterior application techniques, oil-based gold size, drying times, and working on three-dimensional surfaces.
Patinas and Ageing
The techniques that separate experienced gilders from beginners.
Restoration
Working on a real antique piece. Assessment, matching, repair.
Certificate Frame + Business of Gilding
Complete your certificate frame - the signature project of the Master Course. Plus a full session on pricing, finding clients, and building your own gilding practice. If you want to start a business, we'll help you every step of the way.
A full week of immersion.
When
Seven consecutive days, 10am to 4pm each day. Refreshments included.
Where
63 George Street, South Hurstville NSW 2221. Free street parking. Hurstville train station 8 minutes' walk.
What's Included
All materials and tools, every metal you'll use, your finished pieces, refreshments, and a graduation celebration on the final day - including food gilding with 24-karat gold leaf on TimTams, fruit, and wine.
$4,598. Deposit to reserve.
Seven full days of one-to-one teaching with Karl and Brigitte. All materials, every metal, your finished pieces, refreshments, and graduation. A foundation in a craft you can practise for the rest of your life, plus a graduate pathway onto real paid projects with us.
A deposit secures your seat. The balance is due 14 days before your start date.
Tell us a bit about you.
Brigitte will be in touch within 24 hours to talk through your goals and walk you through the deposit.