Aside from their clothes — their sneakers, cargo shorts and T-shirts, clear nods to a modern age — the 20 carpenters, cabinetmakers and architects sketching, cutting and measuring components of a pergola in West Tisbury could have been easily transplanted into the Middle Ages.
The South Mountain Company employees spent last week learning from Patrick Moore, the first person in the Western hemisphere to graduate from Compagnons du Devoir, a 10-year apprentice program during which students travel around France learning from skilled artisans.
Mr. Moore’s specialty is stereotomy — the ancient (and dying), practice of cutting wood and stone to be assembled into walls, vaults and arches. Honed by carpenters and masons of yore, the practice built many of the world’s most glorious Gothic cathedrals: Notre Dame, the Chartres and Seville cathedrals, among others.
Patrick Moore studied at Compagnons du Devoir in France. — Ray Ewing
Mr. Moore’s bread-and-butter work is restoring historical monuments and UNESCO World Heritage sites. In his spare time, he teaches his craft to a handful of small construction firms.Between July 29 and August 2, South Mountain employees not only learned the principles of stereotomy but how to put them into practice. The week culminated in the design and construction of a pergola for Phase II of the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services’ campus renovation. The project is currently in-design by South Mountain, with an expected construction start date of Spring 2025.
Phase I was the design and construction of an Early Education and Care Center.
South Mountain project Lead Rocco Bellebuono, of West Tisbury, said he had taken an online course from Mr. Moore in recent years and then later met him at a timber framing event.
Mr. Bellebuono said he was so inspired by the unique teaching that he hosted Mr. Moore, his wife and two young children at his home during the workshop.
Employees began mornings at the stereotomy workshop utilizing a triangle, ruler and paper to work on 1/10 scaled drawings of the pergola’s four corners. The afternoons were spent cutting wood and assembling the pergola itself.
Stereotomy, the practice of cutting wood and stone to be assembled into walls, vaults and arches, was honed by carpenters and masons of yore. — Ray Ewing
In 2007, Mr. Moore, a native of Canada, said he became inspired to move to France in order to learn from some of the world’s greatest craftsmen.
“In a way it’s like going to learn golf from Tiger Woods,” he said.
He sold his apartment and belongings, and bought a one-way flight ticket. He didn’t speak French, and said he felt isolated from the Compagnons as an outsider amidst the epicenter of French artisanship. But after spending seven years abroad for the program he said he began to feel appreciated.
“When I went there, I was trapped. I had nothing else to come back to,” Mr. Moore said.
But what he found was a sense of empowerment.
“Prior to living in France and learning (stereotomy), I had all of my certificates and professional licenses, and yet I was never once exposed to this life of design and solving.”
Mr. Moore said he believes that stereotomy is a practice that promotes self-reliance and problem solving on one’s own.
“You’re not chained to technology,” he said.
“People who master this practice can create just about any structure without tools such as a computer,” he added. “People who are learning this craft, they want to be here, learn from you.”
He also noted the sense of pride in preserving a cultural heritage.
“When you go to Europe or you go to Japan and you admire this old architecture, well that was all built because of stereotomy,” Mr. Moore said.
Bringing that practice to Martha’s Vineyard was particularly meaningful to South Mountain employees.
Primo Lombardi, another project lead at South Mountain, said he and colleagues have a tendency to approach projects by thinking about where various components of a structure should go — a driveway, a kitchen, or bathroom, for instance.
Mr. Lombardi, of Vineyard Haven, felt the workshop was a healthy way to develop new professional muscles.
“To bring it back on just focusing on the structure itself kind of grounds you,” Mr. Lombardi said. “We’re carrying on a tradition. If we’re not practicing this, it’s lost on our society.”
Newell Isbell Shin, director of production at South Mountain, saidthe practice fits with the ethos of the company.
“These are things you can read about in a book, but you can’t really learn how to do in a book,” he said. “We believe in that legacy. We love being part of that chain of custody.”
