A specialist mold-maker and plaster worker who takes molds and produces plaster casts or working plaster models from sculptural originals.
Formatore in gesso is a traditional sculptural profession. The formatore prepares molds and plaster casts, often translating a clay model into a stable plaster model that can be measured, copied, enlarged, preserved, or used in subsequent casting processes.
Le voci del marmo records the profession explicitly in its Pietrasanta interviews, and Italian reference sources define the sculptural formatore as the specialist who executes plaster molds or casts of sculpture.
Etymology
Italian: formatore, “mold-maker/former,” + gesso, “plaster.”
Sculptor Notes
The formatore occupies a crucial position between modeling and permanent material. A poor mold can lose edges, distort dimensions, trap undercuts, or destroy surface information before the marble carver ever sees the model.
References
https://levocidelmarmo.sns.it/lista_times.php; https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/formatore/