Introducing: The Cathedral Stone Excellence in Craftsmanship Award
One of the things that set our Jahn Mortars apart from other mortars is that we don’t use polymers, aka bonding agents. Those are bad words around here. And because we don’t use these ingredients, using our mortars requires a higher level of skill (hence our training). Craftsmanship, that’s what it takes to use Jahn properly.
I had the idea of awarding a company for the Best Craftsmanship many years ago, but I got busy and the award never made it to launch. The idea was always there, though. Fast forward to 2020 and I received an amazing photographic portfolio of a restoration project at Russel Sage College in Troy, New York. The photographs depicted excellent before, during, and after shots. The company doing the work was Ganem Contracting Corp.
With that portfolio in hand, I headed over to our marketing team and said: “I want to launch the craftsmanship award and this is the first recipient.” I dropped the portfolio onto the desk and we got busy planning the details. We settled on: The Cathedral Stone Excellence in Craftsmanship Award.
With Covid disrupting everything, it took us about ten months to design and have the award manufactured. So our 2020 award presentation happened on January 7, 2022. Better late than never, I guess.
In keeping with the Covid-Times, the award presentation was via a Teams video call. We sent the award and a few bottles of champagne up to the Ganem team in Round Lake, New York — just north of Albany. Peter Ganem accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Peter arranged to have the Russell Sage College crew on the call: Jim Katsoudas (Superintendent), Albenc Ejlli (Mason & Foreman), Zachary Slater (Mason & Form Building), and David Matija (Mason & hand detail carving).
Albenc Ejlli, David Matija, Peter Ganem, Jim Katsoudas, and Zachary Slater
We had a few toasts of the champagne, told some stories, got to know each other, and congratulated them on their truly skilled craftsmanship. All told, it was a great experience for everyone and a long overdue for the award. I think Peter Ganem summed things the best when he said:
“This kind of appreciation for wanting to and taking the time to do a good job feels good.
We all take a lot of pride in our work, in this company, and in our track record.”
We’ll be getting word out real soon on our plans for the 2021 recipient(s) and beyond.
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My congratulations again to everyone at Ganem Contracting Corp. — a truly worthy first recipient of The Cathedral Stone Excellence in Craftsmanship Award.
Here are a few photos from the Ganem Portfolio:
Dennis Rude, Stonecutter & Owner of Cathedral Stone Products
