About
Franz Krutsky
Franz has done one thing for a living since 1987. Thirty-nine years, one trade.
Prague
He began his career in Prague, a city built in stone and finished in wood — Renaissance and Baroque interiors, four centuries of carving, and a constant, unglamorous need for people who can keep it all standing.
Franz became one of those people. He restored castle furniture and objects from private collections, but most of his work was in churches and monasteries — the carved and inlaid wooden interiors of Renaissance and Baroque buildings, some of them among the best known in the country.
It is a particular kind of training. The pieces are irreplaceable, so there is no version of the job where you improvise and hope. You learn to read what is in front of you before you touch it, to repair rather than replace, and to work in ways that whoever comes after you can undo. You learn patience, because there is no other option.
Selected work in Bohemia
- 1992
- Sacristy furnishings — Želiv MonasteryThe Premonstratensian monastery at Želiv, founded in the twelfth century.
- 1996
- Inlaid sacristy furnishings — Church of St Nicholas, Lesser Town, PragueThe great Baroque church of Prague’s Malá Strana. The sacristy furniture is marquetry — pictures and patterns built up in fine sheets of coloured wood.
- 2003
- The altar of the Infant Jesus of Prague — Church of Our Lady VictoriousThe altar that holds the Infant Jesus of Prague, a devotional figure venerated by Catholics on every continent and visited by pilgrims from around the world.
- 2004
- Choir stalls — Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, PlasyThe carved stalls of the Cistercian monastery church at Plasy, in western Bohemia.
- 2006
- Carvings for the Church of St Margaret — Břevnov MonasteryNot restoration, this one: new carved work for the Benedictine monastery at Břevnov, founded in 993 and the oldest in Bohemia.
The Sunshine Coast
In 2015 Franz moved to the Sunshine Coast with his wife and their three sons.
The buildings here are younger. The work is not the same. But the skills did not stop being useful — they just found different things to do.
Since arriving, Franz has restored antique furniture and heirlooms for families across the Coast, taken on wooden boats, built cabinetry and finishing carpentry for local homes, rebuilt decks and outbuildings, and carved sculpture to commission. Same hands, same methods, same care. Different objects.
How he works
By hand, in the traditional way
The joinery, the finishes and the tools are largely the ones he learned in Prague's workshops. Some of it is slower than the modern method. It also lasts longer, and it can be repaired.
Carefully, and in conversation
Franz will tell you what he thinks a piece needs, including when he thinks it needs less than you expected — or when it is not worth doing at all.
Himself
This is a one-person workshop in West Sechelt. When you leave something with Franz, Franz is who works on it.
In two languages
He speaks Czech as well as English.
Where he works
The Sunshine Coast, and Vancouver for special projects
Sechelt, Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Halfmoon Bay and the communities between, from a workshop in West Sechelt.
Next step
Talk to Franz about your project
Send a few photographs and a description. Assessment and quotes are free, and he will tell you honestly whether the job is worth doing.