Origin Story: QuarryHouse’s Man With the Hammer

Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project, designed by Albert M. Bender 

Do you ever wonder where QuarryHouse's Man With a Hammer logo originated? When Ed and Missy Westbrook co-founded QuarryHouse thirty years ago, they sought help from their San Anselmo neighbor, Philip Andrews, a freelance graphic designer. He and the Westbrooks found inspiration for the Man With a Hammer in the Works Progress Administration posters of the 1930s and 40s. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Second New Deal utilized visual art to rally citizens at a time of social and economic crisis in the United States. WPA posters publicized community activities, theatrical productions, exhibits, and health and educational programs. 

Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project, designed by Vera Bock 

The program put millions of unemployed Americans who suffered during the Great Depression back to work. The Federal Art Project provided funds for out-of-work artists, musicians, actors, and writers within the WPA. FAP employed over five thousand artists in various art projects producing public murals, paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts to enhance the lives of everyday Americans. QuarryHouse's Man With the Hammer is a proud descendant of that spirit. In the days before Mac, Philip designed the logo using a Rapidograph pen, artboard, and acetate overlay. 

When the Westbrooks established QuarryHouse, they named it after the location of their home in San Anselmo on an old rock quarry. They envisioned a stone company or a restaurant; they may have served Stone Soup if it were the latter, and The Man With the Hammer might have been The Man With the Whisk. Fortunately for all the elite builders, architects, and interior designers they collaborate with to create timeless private estates and prestigious public works, QuarryHouse remains a team of dedicated master stone masons.