Stone by Design: The Artistry of Lew French by Alison Shaw (Photographer), Lew French

From the Publisher

When Lew French made his first stone fireplace at age nineteen, he didn't expect to feel so drawn to the simple material. Twenty-eight years and countless projects later, he still feels awed by the presence stone has in a well-designed setting, whether it's an artfully rendered remodel of a writer's stone studio, a playful fireplace, or a carefully crafted garden pathway.

This first collection of French's work, filled with artistic inspiration for your own home or landscape, is a study in contrast: contemporary hearths of rustic slate, sculptured walls of both great granite slabs and stacked, rounded fieldstones.

More than 130 gorgeous photographs by Alison Shaw illustrate the beauty of French's pieces and invite you to see how rounded fieldstone, grey slate, rough granite, and even curvy driftwood, are incorporated into stunning pieces of functional art. Throughout, French narrates the charming stories behind the projects: how an idea came to be; how a stone-splitting technique is executed; even how one of his most difficult pieces, a three-year-long project, was saved from ruin just in the nick of time, the day it was completed.

Stone by Design is the perfect inspiration for anyone interested in adding the beauty of stone to their own home or landscape.

Lew French was born in a small farming town in southern Minnesota, called Zumbrota. He started to work with stone when he had a small construction crew right out of high school and built one or two houses a year. He moved to Martha's Vineyard twenty years ago, and has since worked on his own stone designs exclusively. His work has been featured in many publications, including The New York Timesand House Beautiful. French was also featured as a Modern Master on the premier season of "Modern Masters" in the House and Garden Network. French lives with his two sons, Asa and Truman.

Alison Shaw is a fine-art and editorial photographer who lives and works on Martha's Vineyard, which has provided the inspiration and subject matter for much of her color and black-and-white photography. Over 5000 of her original fine art prints are in public and private collections. Alison's work appears regularly in Yankee Magazine, Martha's Vineyard Magazine and Cape Cod Life. She teaches photography workshops for the Maine Photographic Workshops and Santa Fe Workshops. Alison lives with her family in Oak Bluffs.

Product Details

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Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

Working with stone for the past twenty-eight years has been one continuous learning experience for me. I have designed and built a wide variety of stone objects, including fireplaces, walls, gardens, patios, interior spaces, sculptures, and landscapes. Throughout all this creating and building, I am still amazed at how much I do not know or understand about this simple and basic material called stone.


I had just turned nineteen when I first used stone in a building project. I sensed that there was something special about stone, but I did not begin to realize its full potential until I built a black limestone exterior chimney about three years later. While working on the chimney, the full force of the stone's power and energy hit me. It was an awakening. I remember, to this day, going to the quarry, handpicking the stones to be used, mixing the cement powder with the washed sand to make the concrete to hold the stones in place. I was doing all the work myself, putting in twelve-hour days of backbreaking labor. At night I would find myself in bed, so tired from the day's work in the hot sun but still not able to fall asleep, just laying there on my back. I waited anxiously for daybreak, so I could go back to work and lay more stone, thoughts racing through my mind, so excited about the hypnotic energy that the emerging patterns of the stones were creating. I wanted to create a bigger picture, at the end of the day I'd set my tools down and just stare at what was unfolding. It was not about the work-I liked being outdoors, working for myself, and being physically active. But the physical work was just a means to the end: the completed six-by-twenty-two-foot rectangularform. When it was finished, I could not stop myself from looking at it. The visual impact that the stonework had on me was like nothing I had experienced in my young life. For the first time I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with stone.