Master plasterers
Toronto father-daughter duo revive an ancient craft, restoring historic buildings and creating new works of art
Since the age of 12, Jean-François Furieri has worked with plaster, an ancient medium made from blending lime, fine sand and gypsum with water. His father was a master plasterer, and so was his grandfather, and it was in Cannes, that Jean-François would acquire first, a solid foundation, and then, over the next four decades, a wealth of knowledge in an ancient craft. It’s a precious heirloom he’s passing on to the fourth generation of Furieri’s.
At 65, nursing a slight limp — an old judo injury — passing the torch to daughter, Magali, is a chance to see where his third act will take him; most likely back to his second love, sculpture. “My first love was judo,” said Jean-François. “It was a way for me to escape the plaster shop when I was young, and I really threw myself into it. I was a top competitor, I was on the road to the Olympics. Now, I’m a grandfather and all my old judo injuries have caught up with me, so it’s the perfect time to get back into sculpting.”
His full and impressive title is Architectural Master Craftsman and Heritage Plaster Consultant, and he founded Toronto-based company, Iconoplast, in 1986. Being one of only a small handful of craftsmen with his credentials, his work has taken him to venerable old theatres on Broadway and King Street; to old hospitals and banks, museums, hotels and the prime minister’s office; to contemporary projects such as the elaborate ceilings, arches, mouldings
and capitals of One King West; all over Europe and across North America.
It’s a legacy Magali, is learning to live up to.
At 29, and the youngest of his four daughters, Magali was always creative. She studied arts, humanities and film at the University of Toronto, but it wasn’t until a short stint at Willowbank, a school of heritage conservation in Niagara, that she tried stone carving and then found her calling.
“Willowbank was great,” recalls Magali. “But after being onsite with my dad, getting my hands dirty, learning so much, I couldn’t go back to a desk.”
She knew she wanted to work in a creative field, leaning toward film editing, until her first summer internship with her dad at the Macdonell-Williamson House, circa 1817, in PointeFortune, Ont. Slated for demolition until it was purchased by Ontario Heritage Foundation, Iconoplast was called in to restore the plaster detailing to its former glory.
“After working on Macdonell House,” recalled Magali. “I was like, ‘This is it!’ ”
“The house had sat abandoned for so long,” said Magali. “Squatters had been in there, and vandals. The walls were kicked-in in places, pieces had been stolen; we spotted one of the fireplace mantles hanging on someone’s garage door down the road.”
Magali got to work on 200 painstaking hours of paint removal, revealing the true lines created by some of the oldest plaster work in Ontario.
“It was such a slow process,” said Magali. “We used dental tools to carefully scrape away the layers and layers of paint hiding the detail.”
Slow and arduous as it is, “It’s very rewarding,” said Magali. “I have such a passion for the work and it grows the more I learn. It’s also brought my father and I closer.”
“All my girls did their time in the studio,” said Jean-François. “They helped, got coffee and so on, but Magali was always the most creative, very talented, and she decided she really liked it. I never forced it on her; if I had, she’d be a baker now!”
The company’s focus had originally been on production work, making plaster pieces from scratch, which meant Magali saw both sides of the business. “I can run a mould and make new, custom pieces,” said Magali, “But restoration is our niche, and it’s a dying trade, especially in North America.”
But if working to restore historic plaster is a dying craft, how does Magali feel about her future? “I believe I’ll have work, because there’s such a small group of us doing this and I’m hopeful that the next generation will appreciate fine plaster work.”
Cities and towns across North America and Europe are still widely populated by century homes, churches and 19th-century public edifices, and inside, the intricate plaster work is being damaged by water, air, and vibrations from vehicular traffic. With any luck, some of it will be repaired and restored rather than discarded.
“There’s great satisfaction,” said Magali. “When someone comes to us and asks, ‘Can you save this?’ and we can tell them yes!”
“In Ontario,” said Magali, “there are other companies that can do good plaster work, but we’re the only one that specializes in historic restoration. Most people today don’t know the traditional methodology we use to restore and preserve historic plaster work.”
“Being players in a micromarket,” adds Jean-François. “You have to be a true expert. We have a lot of fake competitors.”
“We do lots of work in churches in and around Toronto,” said Magali, “But one of my favourite jobs was bringing an abandoned ballroom at the King Eddy back to life.” The grand room had been closed off since the 1960s, and Magali and her team brought the dated and crumbling room back to its former gilded glory.
“I really have a passion for this and over the last couple of years its’ only gotten stronger,” said Magali. “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I feel blessed. I love what I’m doing. You know, one time someone came into where I was working, and they said, ‘It’s 50-feet up, no one is going to see it!’ But I’m doing it as carefully and as well as I can for myself.”
Jean-François made Magali a full partner in the business in 2018, and soon after, she took the helm as project manager on one of the company’s most public commissions yet — the fouryear restoration of Toronto’s iconic venue, Massey Hall.
Taking over from a master tradesman as well-respected as Jean-François is tough enough, but for a young woman in a male-dominated industry, it can be a real challenge.
“At the beginning, when I was first on-site with my father,” recalls Magali. “The trades and clients would treat me like ‘the boss’s daughter.’ Some were blatantly misogynist and dismissive if they didn’t like something I was asking them to do. They’d say, ‘just ask her dad.’ But instead of trying to boss them into respecting me, I had a mantra that I kept telling myself over and over: ‘Kill them with kindness.’ ”
“So, yes, it has been a bit tricky for me,” Magali admits. “Nevertheless, over the years, I would like to think that I have learned how to approach these situations if I ever find myself in them again, which, let’s be honest, I most likely will. I treat everyone the same, no matter the level of authority. I have learned the hard way that people can misidentify my kindness for weakness, especially because I am a woman. I definitely get looks from tradesmen when I walk onto a job site and they see my white hard hat (white is worn only by managers) and hear my position of authority. But given my past experiences, as soon as I start working and they see the quality of my work, the atmosphere can change and I feel I’ve gained their respect as they look in awe of my work. And, I have to say, the people and trades I worked with at Massey Hall came to respect me as I came into my own, managing three projects at once.”
But just because Iconoplast is steeped in tradition it doesn’t mean the Furieri’s are Luddites. New technologies and materials interest them.
“We’re both intrigued by 3D printing,” said Jean-François. “But it’s really just not fast enough yet. And even computer-aided design and printing will always need the human hand and the artist’s creativity. The people working on the software don’t have the artist’s touch, so the craftsperson’s hand will always have the last word.”
As for Magali, she’s thinking ahead to a time when she can be even more creative. “I want to play with resin and other mediums. There’s a personal project I’ve been wanting to start — a line of original art works in clay to cast into plaster. I need to have my own personal creative outlet, it’s important.”
It’s important for Jean-François, too. He’s looking forward to collaborating with some of his favourite artists. “I’m not as much an artist as I am a technician,” said Jean-François. “So I love to work with artists on projects, just for fun.” With Magali confidently taking over the family business, he’ll have time.
“I think my dad feels like a lot of weight has been lifted from his shoulders,” said Magali, “because I can take care of the business side of things and now I’m managing whole jobs on-site, too. He wants to sculpt and do some travelling back home to Cannes, and to Nice, where he and my mother met.”
“And when I’m old,” Magali muses. “I would love to pass this business down to someone in the family, but I would only do that the way my dad did for me. He invited me in; he didn’t force it on me, the way it was forced on him by his father.”
“I have such a passion for the work and it grows the more I learn. It’s also brought my father and I closer.”
MAGALI FURIERI ICONOPLAST PROJECT MANAGER