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Introduction

 

                                      Ancient yet original, sculptural yet functional,                                            Rudinian Rockworks celebrates the beauty of natural stone

 

Commissions invited

Have a look around the site to see a new

style of  tables, benches, and much more,  handcrafted from the most long lasting

building material in the world

 

Let's talk about what I can create for   you, from a little end table to a set of outdoor furniture worthy of King Zeus.

 

  

                       Email:      rudistade@live.ca          

    Phone:       705  789  3331  

                    Cell/ Text:       705  571  6260                                 

     Workshop:    10 Airport Road East

Huntsville,  Ontario

     By chance or by appointment

 

Challenges accepted

Made of hunks of two-billion year old pre-Cambrian  granite

half as old as the Earth itself ,

give or take 200 million years -

the ultimate antique furniture!

Unique in the world

Natural

Beautiful

Durable

 

Sustainable

Reusable

Disposable

In the Beginning: "Furniture From the Earth"

I am a Huntsville, Ontario

based artisan. I have been designing and building "organic" furniture  with rocks since I moved from downtown Toronto to the Muskoka region in 2003. Before that i was a renovator and had never worked with stone

First tables,   2003

Two weeks after arriving from Toronto I discovered the wealth of flat rocks in the surrounding forest. Seized with inspiration, I knew there had to be a way to  turn  them into furniture by combining them with wood

I didn't know what I was doing, I was a carpenter. Every new project was a

 venture further into 

unknown territory

I would select  one rock out of thousands for the design idea that its unique shape and size suggested, 

Finding rocks that were in the correct proportion to each other for a specific project could take months,

even years. It was far from cost effective, and carrying or hauling them a kilometre through the hilly

forest without scratching the delicate patina could be brutal, but I didn't care. I had found a new passion

 

As my skill and confidence grew, I plunged into  increasingly complex projects, not knowing if they were even physically possible.  I  never cut or shaped the rocks, to preserve the  ancient weathered surface

Graduating to granite

​

In 2006 a cottager  commissioned me to build a six metre long outdoor bar on a flagstone patio.  For the size , quantity, and consistency of rocks required, I suggested we buy from a local quarry

Click here to see  the building of the  outdoor bar and patio

After years of using  found  rocks in their pristine weathered state, I finally "crossed the line" and began carving the raw granite slabs to fit perfectly against each other, with no cuts visible,  They were already freshly split and broken with no surface patina anyway. Still, I spent hours searching the quarries to find the pre-existing shapes I wanted

 

       After that I had the confidence to build my first all-granite bench                                          

Muskoka chair, disassembled and ready for delivery

The parts are assembled without mortar or glue but held together with stainless steel hardware hidden inside the solid stone . This allows the furniture to be taken apart and reassembled on site for many moves  over the  next thousand or so years

Click here to see more Granite Furniture

I have been working primarily with quarried granite since then

 

Rudinian Rockworks

Rock solid furniture designs and more by Rudi Stade

© 2024 by Rudi Stade 

Photography by Rudi Stade

 

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