Posts Tagged ‘Vermont Soapstone’
January 31, 2009
Profiles // Ice Melts. Whisky Rocks.
A few of us from Teroforma just got back from a trip up to Vermont to see our friends at Vermont Soapstone who make our Whisky Stones. We spent much of the day with owner Glenn Bowman as he showed us around his workshop. We talked about the origin of his company and also a bit about its history. We thought we’d share some of our pictures from the trip. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!
Hawks Mountain, VT. Site of the original Vermont Soapstone quarry.
Vermont Soapstone in Perkinsville, VT.
Owner Glenn Bowman was born and raised on Nantucket where his family ran an inn.
Glenn shows us a picture of the original Vermont Soapstone mill which was entirely hydro-powered. It was relocated decades ago to its present location (about a mile away) following an engineering project that dammed the river to prevent flooding in the Connecticut River Valley.
Stone clamps line the banister as you walk onto the workshop floor. They're used during a setting process required to make composite pieces water-tight.
The light is great in this picture. It was shot using a Lumix DMC LX3 on out-of-the-box settings before we'd had a chance to read the manual.
A slab of soapstone is laid on this table as its cut into the pieces that become our Whisky Stones.
A close-up of the workshop wall. Just really like the texture in this picture.
Just visible off to the left in the image three above this one, this is a close-up of a closed-loop water filtration system that Glenn devised to clean away rock dust without infecting the local water table. The pipes pictured above feed the dirty water through 4 large mesh bags that capture the particles in the water as it is recycled to continue its cleaning process. According to Glenn, the approach is consistent with the way the original hydro-powered mill ran back in the 1800s, long before anyone ever heard the term sustainable manufacturing.