Stone Mantel

Once upon a time, fireplaces served a functional purpose. They cooked the food and heated great halls. Today, most homes are designed with a fireplace that serves a very important social purpose. We love fireplaces, the focal points of buildings, both great and small. But their purpose has changed.

The cue that their purpose had shifted was the mantel. Added for ornamentation, mantels signaled the changing role of the fireplace from a primarily functional purpose to a primarily social purpose. Mantels are the time-honored metonymies* for the experiences that matter most.

Almost all products today are going through a similar shift. We don't buy to use. We buy to experience and share. The defining plot-line in consumer behavior today is that few products are really important to people, but people care deeply about the experiences that bring real significance to their lives.

Find the experiences that matter™

Innovation, Brands, and Mantels

Since the Norman's invented them, fireplace mantels have served as indicators of social status, style, mores, and manners. What constituted "the good life" could be observed in the form and features, as well as the fixtures atop the mantel.

Josiah Wedgwood, the originator of modern brand management, designed his Queensware porcelain china so that they could be displayed smartly atop a Chippendale fireplace. His market, the rapidly expanding upper and middle-class of the 17 century, spent much of their social time in front of classically designed fireplaces, seeing and being seen through the reflections of mantel mirrors.

Henry Ford had engraved into one of his home's mantels his life's philosophy. It was a quote from Thoreau: "Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice." Quotes, family histories, images of faith, the faces of admired men and women-mantels always tell stories about the significance of a place. They add meaning to everyday activities. They cue all that special times can occur right here.

*me•ton•y•my (m-tn-m) n., pl. me·ton·y·mies A figure of speech in which one object or single characteristic is used to refer to a larger object or more complicated concept, as in "the crown" for "British sovereignty" or "a brand" for "property owned by an individual or company."