Company Does More Than Pick Up the Pieces : Restoration: Foster Research is known for reconditioning expensive artwork, but customers bring in many objects with sentimental value.

Beneva Lake vividly recalled how her Italian porcelain basket was broken six months ago.

The phone rang and when her 20-year-old nephew rushed to answer it, his leg brushed against the coffee table and knocked over the 8-inch-tall, brown basket, breaking the handle and chipping the elaborately styled porcelain flowers.

He broke a piece of artwork from Capodimonte, one of Italy’s finest porcelain-makers, worth $450. But to Lake, he damaged a reminder of a wonderful European vacation.

Like many before her, Lake found her way to the doorstep of Foster Research Corp., a 33-year-old art restoration company in Costa Mesa, best known for reconditioning expensive European and Oriental porcelain, paintings and sculpture. Restoration of her Capodimonte cost $85, but Lake said it was worth it.

John D. Foster and his wife, Angela, who both run the company, said they have had people bring in plates worth less than $5, but because of sentimental reasons, they willingly pay as much as $350 for repairs. “People will go to any length to restore personal items,” Foster said.

For years, artworks belonging to celebrities have wound up in Foster’s 5,000-square-foot studio in Costa Mesa. For example, singer Dionne Warwick had her Lladro ballerina restored; Frank Sinatra had his marble statues and floor tiles reconditioned; and fast-food restaurateur Carl Karcher had his Japanese porcelain dolls cleaned.

Foster Research’s minimum charge--whether to repair a chipped figurine or to restore some sheen to a marble statue--is $55. Restoration of expensive art pieces can cost several thousand dollars, with the fee usually pegged to about 10% of an art object’s current market value. In many cases, artwork valued at more than $1,000 is insured and restoration costs are covered, Foster said.

In the studio, an array of broken porcelain lay on several tables, like jigsaw puzzles waiting to be assembled. But unlike a cardboard puzzle, each piece tells a different tale, said Angela Hittesdorf, the firm’s senior artist.

For example, a 2-foot-high, $10,000 Lladro porcelain horse with two broken hoofs, made by Spain’s famous Lladro brothers, is the subject of a lawsuit between its current and previous owners.

When Foster started art restoration work in 1958, it was a hobby. He was a sophomore studying general business courses at what is now Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, and on weekends he repaired marble and alabaster statues for friends. He eventually decided to turn his hobby into a business.

Foster, 62, said his business grew slowly over the years as his reputation as a restorer spread among collectors. Today, his company employs seven restoration artists.

In January, he started John D. Foster Formulas to create products and market his inventions to the art industry. He has four patents pending, including one for a claylike adhesive mix.

The adhesive is made from chemicals widely used in the aerospace industry and it helps keep porcelain and other free-standing art objects from being tipped over. To move the art object, a collector just gives it a twist. The claylike adhesive can be removed from the bottom of the statue and used again to anchor the object elsewhere.

Foster also built a special earthquake-resistant table where he stores the more expensive porcelain pieces awaiting repair. The table remains stationary even when the ground shakes beneath it, and it can absorb a 7.0 earthquake. Another invention is a cleaning solution for oil paintings, porcelain pieces and other artwork.

Last year, his company’s annual sales for restoration work reached $1 million, Foster said. He expects to do even better as more people begin to appreciate porcelain and other forms of artwork.

“There are many more art collectors today than 20 years ago,” said Angela Foster, 54. “Some people collect for pleasure, some for investment, and others for both reasons.”

Major contributors to the growth of the Fosters’ business in recent years are an increased number of children--Orange County’s under-18 population jumped 12% from 1980 to 1990--and a series of earthquakes in California in recent years. Foster said most of the art objects Foster Research restores these days are casualties of domestic accidents.

“If you have children, pets or housekeepers in a household, chances are accidents will happen; and if you have the three together, it’s pandemonium. Combined, they can wreak havoc on your art collection and heirlooms,” he said. “I call them pet and domestic tragedies.”

The greatest tragedies are caused by nature, Foster said. He saw a rush of business after the Whittier earthquake in 1987, the 1989 temblor in San Francisco, the Upland quake last year and, more recently, the 5.8 Sierra Madre quake in June.