First of all, we look at the need for stability. This is not a static fossilisation, but balance. Beauty looks after herself, as Eric Gill said. People have for ages felt the need to preserve that which they value. This is partly a statement but there is also a need to hand on these testaments to those who will follow and give a solid foundation from which to work. People are prepared to invest an enormous amount of resources, energy and time towards achieving their goals and leaving something which will speak to contemporary witnesses as well as to future generations.

There can be lasting ideals of beauty - ones which transcend the whims of fashion, partly because of their innate beauty but also because they are familiar and we can relate to them and understand them. In short we are comfortable with them. There is also a rather special quality and serenity about something that has endured so long, and has spoken to so many people.

  
  There is a need for things of lasting beauty. Yet we also have a very strong need to change things. The act and significance of making new things are manifold. Whatever we do now changes the meaning of what has been before, and what comes after.
 
From the book 'Letters for the Millennium'
 

 

     
  Creativity is a necessity. What we are making may not be a physical object, but it is the act of creation that is symbolic of our existence and spirit. Cutting letters is a very physical act. These letters then radiate a spirit. To cut letters in stone involves the physical channelling of energy to create something that will inspire. Lettercutters need to use existing letterforms, but add to them their own distinctive interpretation, making them appropriate to the age in which they live. Each piece is unique, as we are ourselves.  

Stone is a precious natural resource and its history must be respected; in cutting one wishes to add to it something that aims to enhance the world. Cutting letters in stone fuses the timeless natural beauty and permanence of the material with a living message and meaning.

To create something that is to last, it must be of value and of the highest quality. This is a responsibility from which lettercutters cannot escape. So they must give everything to achieve excellence.
         
 
From the book 'Letters for the Millennium'
 

 

   
  Letters make words. Words are one of the main ways we interpret and understand our world. We act on words. We find our way through words. We pass on knowledge through talking and writing with words. Literacy is a vital link in the web of humanity. Words can be spoken - existing for a moment; or written - so lasting for longer. They can be cut in stone, hence preserved. They can describe something very simple or very complex.  
  Once chosen letters have the power of speaking on all sorts of different levels through their forms. As the tone of a voice alters when wishing to convey different meanings so the choice of form, size, combination of shapes and whole arrangement of letters and words will alter according to the feel of the message one wants to convey.
       
 
From the book 'Letters for the Millennium'
 

 

  
 

The central idea of cutting letters in stone is to make things last. Cutting letters in stone has parallels with the landscape of everyone's life. From all the infinite number of possibilities before us we must single out one, the right one, focus on it and see through. Therein lies a role for ourselves, a way of participating in and adding positively to the world. There must be a moment of decision - the incisive moment, which needs bravery, conviction and sensitivity. Before we can play our part, we have to master skills, knowledge and understanding and be ready to offer something of worth.

For letters to be cut in stone, there has to be a vital spark: the meeting of the commissioner and the lettercutter.This will ignite the flow of ideas which will then be developed and refined.
       
 

From the book 'Letters for the Millennium'

 

 

  
 

At the first meeting, it must be discovered what is needed, for whom and where. Ideas and ideals are shared, so that understanding can develop. This has to be a relationship of trust, so that slowly and deliberately a point of agreement can be reached and there is no drifting apart.

The lettercutter has a sense of service. In the partnership, the lettercutter also has a sense of responsibilty for making the best commemoration possible of something so worthwhile to the commissioner; and this can inspire both parties to great heights.

Throughout '...the triangular relationship of material, artist and patron is celebrated by us all, working together from beginning to end; and ... as the work develops, so do we.'
       
 
From the book 'A Guide to Commissioning Work''
 

 

 
  Lettercutters have to understand the material and its behaviour under the chisel. However, the technique of cutting is the start, not the end. The basic technique can be mastered comparatively quickly. Technically shaping a letter does not necessarily make a beautiful letter - it is the first vital step but it needs mental development and "feel". The "feel" of what is right is as mysterious and as elusive as the ultimate creator; but the intuition as to what is right and which radiates the truth is as intensely strong and convincing to those who listen, look and know.  
  Once a cut is made, it is there for ever for the world to witness. The lettercutter cannot stand by it and defend it for the rest of its life, so it has to speak for itself.
       
 
From the book a 'Letters for the Millennium'
 

 

  
  Something intended to last and to speak to future generations with new energy needs to be kept alive and handed on. Something essential to those responsible for its creation, made with love, attention, experience and the knowledge of the time is being handed on. But also many cultural messages and words that are unspoken as well as carved in stone are passed on.  
  For a valuable skill to be preserved and handed on, people have to be trained to continue this skill. Training in the workshop is vital. It is good to be a lettercutter, we do not want the understanding and skill to die, so it needs to be passed on. Apprentices are taken on for three years to learn within the fertile workshop environment.  
  The workshop keeps alive a skill and way of being that has long existed because it is a worthwhile life. By example, it urges people to be creative in their lives. We can control much, but we cannot create energy and spirit and we cannot control when life is taken away - that remains a mystery beyond us. But we can preserve, re-create, appreciate and celebrate that which we value. Lettercutters hand on many messages, physical and spiritual.  
     
 
From the book 'Letters for the Millennium'