The Fur Man

Is it a love story? Is it a fur story? Is it an art story? Oh, all of the above, the meeting reveals as Betty sits there and talks about her Zuki, husband and furry partner. “I imported him,” she says with a smile.

It all started 37 years ago when Betty took off on a quick trip to Israel and came back with a brush of love, a future husband and life-long career in fur.

Zuki, then an immigrant without a job, naturally went to work for her father, who was in the fur business. But what kind of furs? The only kind of fur business the community was accustomed to: traditional, mainstream, brown, black or white.

Nothing like Zuki was to come up with. That's where Zuki's youth and inquisitiveness came in. Now, he thought, if we can make black fur, we can make fur of other colours. Why not pink and blue and purple fur? Why not? He was to be met with resistance, but luckily, Betty's father was an accommodating man and allowed Zuki some leeway, and thank God he did.

Zuki redefined what it meant to wear fur. He used fur as a canvas, and an ornament for the body. He did not see the tradition of the industry as one not to be tampered with; there was no line for him. His creativity knew no boundaries—which led him to the creation of INTARSIA. He was the first to envision and create fur like a puzzle, where pieces of individual fabric and colour are inserted into existing fur like a work of art. The result is a mirage of colours and textures, comparable rather to a piece de resistance than to a mainstream fur coat.


Not traditional, not expected, there is no limit to what can happen next, says Zuki. Who knows where the creative mind will take you? As it stands, his current collection incorporates both sides of the hide, resulting in two coats in one: One side with Intarsia or coloured fur, and the other—hand painted.


How do they deal with the controversy of fur? Well, the fur industry, says Betty, is one of the founding industries in Canada. And, it is strictly regulated. Zuki International values these regulations and feels privileged to exist among the very top innovators within it. Zuki is highly respected as not only an entrepreneur but as an artist. His work is shown across Asia and Milan, and there seems to be no end to demand in Russia where fur is now all the rage.


Luckily, this fur man was imported here and allowed the freedom to explore, "to be himself" in the beaverful land of opportunity; where he was able to take the fur industry to places it had not gone before, where he could move forward but also go back in time to fetch inspiration and ideas of old, back in the day where every surface was a possible canvas.


Zuki has one regret only. He wishes that he had had the insight to appreciate how fully innovative his concept of Intarsia was at the time. He wishes he had patented the process that has yet to be as precisely mastered by others in the field. Yes, he is the imported fur man still Zuki King of Intarsia.