Shane King - Kingdom Contracting

We first met Shane King in person on a cool spring morning in Bozeman, during one of our tadelakt workshops. He arrived with his family, a camper parked near the hot springs, and an open curiosity that could only belong to someone who’s spent years learning by doing. Within moments, his humility and quiet drive made it clear why he belonged in our orbit.

Shane’s story begins long before that workshop. He grew up around plaster dust and trowels, raised in a family where the trade spanned generations—his father a plasterer in Southern California, his maternal grandfather one as well. At 18, his father brought him onto the crew, where he learned the rhythm of commercial stucco and the discipline of physical work. 

He moved from commercial-sized jobs like schools and hospitals to vast storefronts, structures built for function, not feeling. Over the years, he honed his skills in plastering and masonry as well as carpentry. It was a good living, but somewhere inside, something was still waiting to take shape.

“It was just a job for me ten years ago,” Shane told us, “and it’s not anymore. It’s completely changed.”

After a decade in large-scale construction, Montana called. Big Sky’s sprawling projects exposed him to residential plaster finishes and, unknowingly, the beginning of a new chapter. When the workday ended, he found himself watching light slide across finished walls, realizing that each surface held the same patience and personality as the person behind it. There, in the mountain air, plaster began to feel less like material and more like medium.

It was also where he met his wife, Chrissy. Together, they built a life of exploration—hiking the PCT, camping, and traveling north to Alaska for seasonal work. Between long weeks on job sites, they’d drive until the road ended, chasing quiet lakes and open sky. Those drives eventually led them home to Idaho, where family roots and opportunity converged around the high-country town of McCall.

McCall sits two hours above Boise, a lake town surrounded by evergreens and snow-dusted peaks. It’s the kind of place where wood, stone, and mountain light define the architecture—and where Shane saw space for something more soulful. There, he founded Kingdom Contracting, a small plaster company built on high standards and handmade surfaces.

“People up here love wood and stone,” he said, “but once they see plaster done right, they realize it changes everything.”

Since founding Kingdom Contracting around six years ago, he’s worked mostly alone, handling accent walls, range hoods, and fireplaces—projects intimate enough to reveal the subtleties of the craft. Over time, the work has evolved; clients have begun to recognize the artistry behind each trowel stroke. Then came a turning point: discovering the online plaster community and its web of interconnections.

Shane found New Age Artisans on Instagram and discovered something beyond production work. Like many who discover our community, what he found was a mirror: people who saw plaster as art, not just a finish. Eventually, he joined The Plaster Portal, eager to take part in the tadelakt workshop and also gain access to ordering our custom blends.

Through the workshop, The Aggregate podcast, and daily exchanges, the world of New Age Artisans became both classroom and catalyst. The information, the openness, the sense of generosity—all of it resonated.

“It’s amazing,” Shane said. “You can find anything you need through that network. Everyone’s willing to share instead of keeping secrets. It’s about growing the craft together.”

That idea—shared growth—has become the foundation of Shane’s next chapter. He now relies on New Age Artisans’ blends as his go-to materials, with Classic as his cornerstone, and Tadelakt steadily gaining popularity across Boise and McCall. Parade of Homes projects are already placing his work in front of thousands of eyes this season, and he knows that visibility will ripple outward. But it isn’t fame he’s chasing; it’s craft and connection.

He speaks often about customer service, consistency, and education: three qualities that bind him to the ethos of New Age Artisans. He tells us about sending back Titan-strap bags for recycling, about the quick turnaround on orders fulfilled by very real and responsive people who care, about seeing craftsmanship and environmental care exist side by side. These small acts form the culture of a trade in renewal.

“They’re totally doing it for the art of the trade,” he said of the NAA team. “That kind of openness changes everything.”

What stands out most about Shane isn’t just his lineage or his skill; it’s the gratitude that threads through his words. He remembers long days on faceless job sites, and he contrasts them with the quiet joy of standing in a client’s finished dream home while they move in—seeing their reaction to surfaces that now glow with depth and intention.

“It’s such a different feeling,” he told us. “I never thought of myself as an artist until people started saying it. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

The artistry, of course, doesn’t replace the discipline—it refines it. Whether applying tadelakt in the clean mountain light or discussing color palettes with Chrissy, Shane approaches each project as both craftsman and collaborator. He knows the patience it takes to bring chaos into silence, to turn freshly mixed plaster into surface, surface into story.

In the coming years, he hopes to grow his team, training others to see plaster not as simply a commodity but as a calling. (As a bonus for those who plaster alongside him, he’s left-handed!) The developments around Boise and McCall are booming, and with that growth comes opportunity—to teach, to hire, to hand the trowel to someone new.

We see in Shane’s journey a reflection of our own mission: to Educate. Empower. Create. The Portal exists to shorten the distance between passion and mastery, to connect people like Shane who are willing to learn, share, and push the craft forward. And in that way, the relationship between Kingdom Contracting and New Age Artisans is exactly what we hoped for—mutual, authentic, alive.

As he puts it, this isn’t just a trade for him anymore. It’s an art form, a community, a living network of craftspeople.

“We’re still doing what we love,” he said. “The bills are paid, the work’s meaningful, and that’s what matters.”

We couldn’t agree more. The surfaces tell the story now—each trowel mark is a reminder of where he’s been, and how far the craft can go when knowledge is shared freely and passion leads the way.

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Credits:

Images Credit: Rachel Wolf Photography

Post by guest contributor Emily Campbell. More of Emily’s writing and mural work can be found on Substack and The Paint Lady.