Sam Stone

Sam Stone began his education at the University of South Florida in a Pre-Medical program but – following a volatile reaction to Organic Chemistry – found his equilibrium in the field of design. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architecture from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2022 and has been seeking solutions for the built environment ever since.

Post-graduation Sam worked as an architectural designer in Seattle before returning with his wife to their hometown in Florida. The move coincided with a devastating hurricane season that brought an above-average number of major storms to the Sunshine State. Faced with severe flooding and power outages, he became keenly aware and deeply appreciative of resilient architecture and the need to design for a changing climate. Just months later he and his family relocated to Maine, bringing with them a bounty of hope and several potted juvenile palm trees.

“Design has two parts,” muses Sam. “There is the physical object which desires to be thoughtful, beautiful, and useful. There is also the personal interface, how we interact with the object, the stories we create together. Good design solves the puzzle of synthesizing these two halves into a singular character.” Layering in the need for sustainability, he says, is a mission of finding a net good which is agreeable for all. He enjoys the challenge of this puzzle, and is especially delighted by the seemingly simple details that require the most thought to work through.

Whether with architectural elements or old electronics, Sam is a major tinkerer and has a natural knack for troubleshooting just about anything. He dives into temperamental handrail connections with the same reckless abandon he uses to disassemble our old iMacs and resurrect them as monitors. He even built his own headphones, which he wears most of the workday while bobbing along to “music with an international or acquired taste, ranging from Japanese and Brazilian to sounds which can best be described as musical dial up tones.”