We are passionate about natural stone . Our company could distribute manufactured imitation veneers or pavers. But we just can’t bring ourselves to do it. We are traditionalists, and believe in beautiful, durable, natural stone products.
Consider the antique cobblestone images above, how these cobblestone were made hundreds of years ago, hand cut solid stone, meant to be installed directly on earth with natural joints, without grout, or concrete base. These images are from our Historic European Cobblestone collection, genuine antique reclaimed cobble and curb we import from Europe. The other image is one of several hand-chiseled columns that I created. We believe the value is not just aesthetics, its the benefit of investing in a home and its landscape, with the intention that it will last generations, not just a few years.
We came across an interesting article written by Rudy Christian, the director of Preservation Trades Network, (PTN) an organization founded to provide education, networking and outreach for the traditional building trades. This article was written for Traditional Building, an online and print collection of traditional architectural resources. Would like to share the following excerpts:
“We seem to have lost track of what the justifications are for good stewardship, replacing them with the economics of ownership…. have lost the understanding of building durability into what we make. We have become accustomed to our manufactured world and have lost our memory of what the world was like when everything we saw or came in contact with was handmade. The need to be good stewards so future generations can benefit from our work or the work that came before us is not hard wired into our brain the way it once was.”
The article goes on to emphasize that there is resurgence in trades people returning to hand work, and educational opportunities are growing for those who want to learn. PTN was established on the principle that conservation of the built environment is fundamentally dependent on the work of skilled people in all of the traditional building trades who preserve, maintain and restore historic buildings, and build architectural heritage for the future.
In a world surrounded by Big Box stores, and ready made products, its easy to get caught up in instant and less expensive gratification, without regard for quality, durability and stewardship. Happily, Monarch Stone International, is a resource for those who can ‘fight’ that feeling.