02.2018 – luxe. interior + design - A Flourishing Venture

In late 2016, rumors began to circulate among local architects and builders that Casci, Dallas’ beloved plasterworks studio now owned by Mark Marynick, was going on the market—or, worse, closing. Founded in 1930 by Italian immigrant Giovanni Primo Casci, the company transferred in 1972 to Jan and Royce Renfro, who lovingly maintained it over the decades, garnering clients nationwide, and were considering retirement. Encouraged by friend Porter Fuqua—whose father, architect Wilson Fuqua, had worked with Casci for years — Marynick visited the Renfros. “We hit it off immediately,” he recalls, yet notes the couple weren’t eager to sell.

Spring 2018 – Dave Perry-Miller Collection - From Ornamental to Fundamental

Mark Marynick, armed with an MBA from Southern Methodist University, a certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a deep, abiding passion for art, commerce, people, architecture and manufacturing, has proven these tools were just what he needed to lead the plaster craft into its next iteration.

Much of his studio’s current techniques and attention to detail remain true to Mr. Casci’s original vision. There have been some slight changes and advancements to materials in the mold-making process but for the most part, Marynick says, not much has changed.

03.2017 – PaperCity Magazine – The Die is Cast

In the age of Internet startups, the acquisition of an 87-year-old artisanal plaster company seems an unlikely investment for a pair of Highland Park High School grads. But recently, Mark Marynick, 33, and Porter Fuqua, 30, inked a deal to buy historic Dallas-based Casci Plaster.

“It’s not a startup, but a restart,” Fuqua says. A newly minted associate architect with his father’s firm, J. Wilson Fuqua & Associates, he remembers visiting Giovanni as a child, looking on as his father sorted through plaster samples with clients.