Customer Reviews

Stone By Design: The Artistry of Lew French

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New Englanders are partial to the rocks that burst forth from the ground every spring and permanently bulge up like the tips of ice bergs floating beneath the surface of the earth. For more generations than most can count, those rocks have been thoughtfully piled into mortarless stone fences that "make good neighbors." Everyone has stopped at one time or another to admire one of these wonders that have outlasted their builders.

Lew French is an authentic son of that tradition with an innate love for stone and turning it into something more delightful . . . a rich context for wonderful living.

In these homes, you'll see stone transform rooms into warm retreats that you'll just want to snuggle into on cold winter nights, turn gardens into fairy tales, and extend your perspective by changing the very outdoors in novel ways. Whether by putting a window into a stone fence, by creating original art with stones and driftwood, or through evoking Stonehenge, you'll feel differently and better from seeing his work. His creations seem weightless like a good idea, despite weighing many tons.

Part of the magic is that he's meticulous about getting a tight fit between stones and hiding his mortar very well. So even a fireplace looks to be but a vertical New England stone wall . . . and a very beautiful one at that.

It's magic. Enjoy it.

I saw this fellow featured on public TV- so I ordered his book. This may be a book about stonework- but it's actually an Art Exhibit. The precision and beauty of the work displayed is amazing. For a rank amateur like me who has done a little stonework I find it mesmerizing. And so do the people that I lend the book to who have never picked up a rock or mortar!