The development of the Altared States collection of mantles for ABC Stone marks, for me, is a deliberate return to one of architecture’s most ancient and symbolically charged elements: the hearth. I did not approach this project as a reinterpretation of the fireplace as decoration. Instead, I sought to restore it to its original condition—as an altar, a site of focus, gravity, and transformation.

Historically, the hearth was never merely functional. It was the center of domestic life—a place of gathering, ritual, and continuity. In ancient and sacred contexts, the altar and the fire were inseparable, both acting as thresholds between the material and immaterial. This lineage became the conceptual foundation of Altared States. I began to see the mantel not as an accessory to fire, but as its architectural frame—its intellectual and emotional boundary.

My collaboration with ABC Stone was essential to this process. Their deep material knowledge allowed me to begin not with drawings, but with stone itself. I selected slabs for their internal movement, coloration, and geological narrative. I wasn’t interested in imposing form onto material. Instead, I worked in reverse—allowing the material to suggest form.

This required resisting the modern impulse to overly refine or homogenize. I embraced irregularity, asymmetry, and tension—qualities that feel inherent to both stone and fire. The resulting mantels do not contain fire; they engage with it. They create a dialogue.

The collection ultimately took shape as five distinct pieces: Shell Shock, Intellectual Property, Circular Reasoning, Piece of Mind, and Cerebral Matter. I conceived each as a variation on the idea of the altar—an exploration of thought, perception, and material presence.

Shell Shock emerged as an investigation into fracture and rupture. I wanted it to feel as if the stone had been broken open—not damaged, but revealed. There is a sense of pressure, of impact, that connects both to geology and to the human psyche.

With Intellectual Property, I shifted toward a more controlled geometry, though still unsettled. The intersecting planes suggest constructed knowledge—systems we build, yet never fully own. The stone resists authorship. It reminds me that material precedes intention.

Circular Reasoning (below) allowed me to explore recursion. Its looping geometry creates continuity without resolution. It’s a paradox—open and closed at once. When fire is introduced, the form amplifies its movement, reinforcing the instability of meaning itself.

Piece of Mind (below) became a moment of restraint. I reduced the geometry, but allowed the material to remain active. It reflects, to me, a temporary reconciliation—an equilibrium between chaos and order.

Finally, Cerebral Matter engages directly with interiority. Its form is almost anatomical, referencing the folds of the brain. Here, the mantel becomes a metaphor for thought—dense, layered, alive. Fire reads as energy, even consciousness.

Material selection was never secondary. Rosa Aurora, Chambord, and Bateig each carry distinct tonal and geological identities. I treated the stone not as a surface, but as an origin. The form emerges from it—not the other way around.

All five mantels share the same dimensions—66 inches long, 49 inches high, 5.5 inches deep—but that consistency only sharpens their differences. I was interested in this tension between system and individuality. Between repetition and singularity.

What I wanted to challenge most was the contemporary tendency to diminish the fireplace—to treat it as background or gesture. I reversed that hierarchy. In Altared States, the mantel becomes the primary architectural event. The room is organized around it.

This reflects a broader concern in my work. We live in a time of acceleration, abstraction, and digital detachment. I believe there is a growing desire for grounding—for materials that hold time. Stone does this inherently. It resists speed. It carries duration.

When paired with fire—an element defined by immediacy—the contrast becomes powerful. Permanence meets impermanence. The mantel becomes the site of that exchange.

Ultimately, I see Altared States as an act of recovery. I am recovering the hearth as a place of meaning, the mantel as architecture, and stone as a medium of thought. This collection is not simply about fireplaces. It is about how we frame the essential forces of life—heat, light, matter—and how we give them form.