People of Long Now

Stuart Kendall

Principal at Seattle Solstice

Stuart is a founding partner and Principal of Seattle Solstice, one of the most technically advanced stone cutting facilities in the world and a consonance of art & engineering.  Undergraduate work in physics at Carleton College transposed to a degree from the Eastman School of Music. He co-founded Enclume, Inc. a premier decorative art forging company begun in 01973 that is recognized internationally today. As an original early member of ABANA, Stuart brought innovation to this industry. Enclume was one of the first to utilize large scale industrial forging hammers for art-smithing.  Spinning Enclume off in 01980, he joined The Pacific Science Center as Head of Exhibit Engineering.  As a member of ASTC, he gave convention seminars on creativity, exhibit design and construction over several years.  In 01988, Stuart joined Dinamation International Corporation as Director of Research & Development overseeing a talented team of hand picked designers, educators and craftsmen, expanding the robotic dinosaur experience globally. Stuart lead the former Dinamation R & D group as it morphed into Teknos, Inc., a for profit science exhibits group.

In 01993 Stuart joined Machinists, Inc., now a major fabricator of Clock 1 components, as Head of Engineering. Running the Design-Build division of Machinists, Stuart developed major tooling systems and production processes for firms such as the Boeing Phantom Works, Lawrence Livermore, and The Hanford Nuclear Facilities. Custom machinery and automation in diverse areas filled the 01990s, with Stuart later becoming head of Concept Formulation. In 01996, Stuart reached an agreement with Machinists, Inc. that enabled the creation of unprecedented CNC equipment, built exclusively for large scale stone sculpture.  Starting with a 9 axis vertical stone profiling lathe, Seattle Solstice gradually took shape along with a continuing expansion of unique, purpose built stone machining equipment. In 02000 Stuart moved to full time operations at Seattle Solstice which recently produced a 62” floating sphere, the largest ever fabricated in the Americas.

Stuart also heads the Solstice Studio, an art and engineering firm providing mechanical design services to the art community and is staff engineer for Fabrication Specialties, Ltd. His works include award winning sculptures for the AGMA and The Gear Works, another Clock 1 supplier.  Stuart is a Paul Harris Fellow for his contributions to Rotary International.

Seattle Solstice and The Long Now Foundation began talks in 02007. Stuart’s energy and efforts are currently concentrated on custom stone cutting techniques and CNC machinery for the Clock 1 helical stairway and underground chambers.

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