Biographie

Valentin Boissonnas graduated in 1997 with honours from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, as a conservator for archaeological and ethnographic artefacts. The same year he started working as a metals conservator at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, an activity he developed over the following seven years. Parallel to the latter he started working as a freelance objects conservator at the Ateliers de Conservation Boissonnas in Zurich, working for museums and private collections.

In 1999 he became a lecturer in conservation at the Conservation Department of the HE-Arc in Neuchatel (formerly HEAA in La Chaux-de-Fonds). His work at the HE-Arc is divided between BA and MA students, mainly focusing on the conservation of metallic heritage objects. He has a particular interest in corrosion products, their formation and how we can use them to better devise conservation strategies. His current work with MA students is part of the research project MICORR. Valentin is also a regular guest lecturer at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA), the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), and the Scuola Universitaria Professional della Swizzera Italiana, Lugano (SUPSI) and is a vetting member of the TEFAF.

A further field of interest is the material culture of Melanesia and Polynesia. This led him do pursue his studies at the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas, University of East Anglia, where in 2012 he graduated with distinction. His dissertation converned the typological and sociological study of Western Polynesian kava bowls and their evolution over the last 300 years. He is currently involved in the long term preservation of artefacts related to the ten Gurus of Sikhism that are venerated in Takhts and private collections in India.