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Photograph by George Sakkestad The back wall of the Millbrook Stone shop on E. Main Street is covered with master molds that give customers an idea of the decorative patterns that can be applied to things like fireplaces and kitchen hoods. Gary Edwards, left, and Barry Tripp are master stone carvers who learned their trade in England.

There's a new shop in Los Gatos that's run by two childhood friends whose back story is unusual, to say the least: They are master stone carvers. It's an occupation you don't hear about too often these days, but the finished products made by Gary Edwards and Barry Tripp are really pieces of art.

Edwards and Tripp own Millbrook Stone at 32 E. Main St. in Los Gatos. The quality of their work is on display at the shop, but it's also seen in houses and buildings from San Francisco to Carmel.

Currently, the pair is working on homes in Saratoga and Monte Sereno.

Edwards and Tripp hail from the village of Longburton in Dorset, England.

"It's very rural with about 1,200 residents," Edwards said. "It has a church, a pub and farms. You blink and you've gone through it."

Realizing there were very few career opportunities in Longburton, Edwards and Tripp decided to learn the art of stone carving. They attended masonry school and later apprenticed with master carvers while working on historical buildings throughout England.

Then, they received a commission from a Los Gatos resident in the mid-1980s. "We carved stone for his house in England and brought it over here and installed it," Tripp said.

Edwards added, "We came over with 70 tons of stone, plus all our hand tools."

Read more:
Los Gatos: Master stone carvers bring new life to old trade

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