Lladró Antique Restoration Shop off Bird Road: Doctor Arts

A Lladró ballerina missing a hand, a plaster Virgin with a chipped face and a Flemish terracotta relief have all landed on the same bench in southwest Miami. Doctor Arts, at 4827 SW 75th Ave, is an antique restoration shop that works by appointment only, Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm, closed Sunday.

The studio belongs to Eduardo Czarnecki, who is listed on the site as owner and founder and describes himself as an artisan, sculptor, ceramist and professional art conservator. His training spans Uruguay, Argentina, Europe and the United States, and the restoration work is shared with María López, named alongside him as the second specialist. The About page counts more than 25 years of experience, and the website footer carries a copyright that runs up to 2026.

A sculptor's hand matters for this kind of repair. When a porcelain figure arrives with a missing finger, a broken flower petal or half a lace skirt gone, the lost part has to be modelled from scratch, then painted to sit next to the original glaze without a visible seam. The studio says replacement areas are sculpted and color matched, and that it uses conservation-grade and, where possible, reversible materials so a later restorer can still undo the work.

Fine porcelain is the core of the business. The FAQ names Lladró figurines and European porcelain directly, and lists crack repair, structural stabilization, missing-part reconstruction and cleaning of stained or yellowed pieces. The studio's About page also shows a 2016 event at the WMODA gallery and museum where Czarnecki appeared with Michael Doulton, a sixth-generation member of the family behind Royal Doulton, the London pottery founded in 1815.

Kintsugi is on the menu too. For owners who would rather celebrate a break than hide it, the studio offers Kintsugi-style repair, joining ceramic fragments with gold in the Japanese manner. It is a good choice for a family bowl or tea cup whose value is sentimental, since the gold seam makes the history part of the object, and it avoids the long color-matching work that invisible restoration needs.

Collectors from outside Florida do not have to fly in. The studio takes shipped pieces from across the country, and its shipping page is unusually specific: wrap every fragment separately in bubble wrap, leave three to four inches of foam peanuts or crumpled newspaper around the pieces, and double box if you can. Put your name, address, phone number, a description of the damage and the insurance value inside the box, because all shipments must be insured.

Religious art is a large share of the work in a city with this many Catholic households and churches. The services page lists saints, Madonnas, crucifixes, devotional sculptures and church artifacts, in plaster, carved wood and marble. A plaster saint that has lost paint from decades of candle smoke and handling is a typical job, and the studio says it reconstructs missing parts and retouches polychrome and gilded surfaces.

The museum work is more surprising. The conservation page shows a terracotta relief, Moses Striking Water from the Rock, attributed to the Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy, restored by Czarnecki. The same page describes conservation of fossil tusks from woolly mammoths and American mastodons, with consolidation in reversible resins and rebuilding of missing areas. Ancient and pre-Columbian pottery, marble sculpture, gilded frames and oil paintings round out the list.

The quickest start is the free estimate. Send photographs of the damaged piece through the website and the team reviews them before you book a visit. There is no public price list: the FAQ says cost depends on the size of the piece, the level of damage, the number of missing fragments, gold detailing and the quality of restoration you ask for. Bring every shard you have, even dust-sized ones, as they save sculpting time.

Be honest with yourself about the object. A mass-produced resin figurine bought for twenty dollars will cost more to restore than to replace, so skip the trip unless it carries family history. Where this studio is worth the drive is a retired Lladró, a 19th-century bisque figure or a carved santo from a grandparent's altar. For a torn oil painting instead, D&D Art in Little Havana works on canvas and paper.

The studio sits on a residential stretch of SW 75th Avenue a few blocks south of Bird Road, in zip code 33155, so a car is the practical way to arrive with a fragile box. Park close, carry the piece flat, and keep the original packaging if the figurine came with one. The Palmetto Expressway exit at Bird Road is the easiest approach from the airport or from Coral Gables.

Make an afternoon of it afterwards. Tropical Park, the big county park on Bird Road just to the west, has walking paths around its lakes and an equestrian center. To the north is the Bird Road Art District, a cluster of warehouse studios and small galleries that open for gallery nights, and A.D. Barnes Park, with its shaded nature trails, is a short drive further north along SW 72nd Avenue.

Address: Doctor Arts Inc, at 4827 SW 75th Ave, Miami, FL 33155. Email: info@doctorarts.com. Hours, by appointment only: Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday 11 am to 2 pm, Sunday closed. Estimates: free, starting from photographs sent through the website. Specialists: Eduardo Czarnecki, founder, and María López. Shipping: accepted from anywhere in the US, insured only.

Best for: Lladró and European porcelain figurines, plaster and wood saints, terracotta, ancient pottery and fossils. Bring every fragment, a photo of the piece before it broke if you have one, and any earlier repair history. Ask the Karpo APP for a Cuban bakery on Bird Road or a quiet trail in Tropical Park while the studio looks over your piece.