About us
Four people, one quarry and a very old rock.
Shield & Story exists because a mason was losing whole afternoons to the same conversation, and because a woman wanted somewhere permanent to put a horse.
The mason
Kyle Madracki Artisan mason · South River, Ontario
“A saw doesn’t listen. You set the point, you hit it four times, and between every strike the stone tells you whether you were right. Get it wrong and you have gravel. Get it right and you have a face nobody has ever seen before.”
Kyle has been reading Shield granite for two decades. Every stone we sell passes through his hands exactly once — split, dressed, seated for the plaque, and logged. He does not make two the same, because he cannot.
Field recording · one stone, 47 seconds
- 00:00 Point set against the grain
- 00:06 Four strikes, listening between each
- 00:11 The stone gives — a dull crack, not a ring
- 00:19 Dust off the face, thumb across the break
- 00:27 Grinder, one pass, seat for the plaque
- 00:41 Four bolts. Done.
What we hold to
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We do not repeat
Every stone is split along fractures the rock already had. There is no second one, and we will not pretend otherwise.
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The page outlives the plan
Every legacy page exports to a plain archive you keep. If this company disappears, your family still has everything.
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A quarter belongs to charity
The GCFTA holds a full quarter of the business. Every stone we sell pays into it — not a donation scheme, an ownership stake.