Culture

Then and Now

Peter admits that he missed out on the dino phase as kid, but he’s more than made up for that in the ensuing years. A talented sculptor with a BFA from the University of Guleph, Peter trained with the ROM’s vetran paleontology technician Gordon Gyrmov and learned welding and metal working from a former WW2 Luftwaffe test pilot Rudy Zimmermann. Eventually he became the head technician at the ROM, then spent a stint at the Royal Tyrrell Paleontology Museum in Alberta. When he returned to the ROM, he started getting calls from other museums looking for casting services. He rented space, installed a drill press and a welding machine and completed assignments in his spare time. By 1990 he was so busy, that it was time to give up his day job.

1987    Toronto
1998    Oakville 6000 sq ft
2002    Beamsville 18,000 sq ft
2007    Trenton 48,000 sq ft.

RCI has grown from a team of three in 1987 to five in 1995, to over 40 in 2019. Today  we have the largest facility of its kind working with institutions and Museums and theme parks throughout the world, from Australia, to Japan, Dubai to North America. We recently signed a contract  to preserve, clean and mount 52 dinosaur skeletons for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington. The effort will take four years to complete. This is the first time the Smithsonian has let their specimens be stored outside of their own facility and calls for rigidly specified environmental conditions and secure storage in the building.