Today we’d like to introduce you to russ schleipman.
Russ, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
For the past nine years our family enterprise, Telescopes of Vermont, has engineered the rebirth of an exquisite gem of design housed in the Smithsonian: The Porter Garden Telescope. A marriage of art and science, it is a piece for the discriminating collector. A limited heirloom, its story is one of passion, creativity, collaboration and very clever engineering on the part of several gentlemen in their eighties and nineties, skilled in disparate realms, each at the top of his respective game.
Designed in 1923 by Russell W. Porter of MIT, the Garden Telescope was conceived as a superb optical instrument, Art Nouveau bronze sculpture, and working sundial, all in one. It was a model for the 200 inch Hale Telescope at Mt. Palomar in San Diego, and thereby found its way to the Smithsonian. Decades later, Fred Schleipman of Norwich, Vermont and the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, driven by a deep passion to do so, organized a talented team for the express purpose of resurrecting this unique instrument, adding superb modern optics and considerably enhanced functionality.
Has it been a smooth road?
Our resurrection presented daunting technological hurdles: engineering, patterning, casting and machining. It was at this point that Schleipman set about finding the craftsmen necessary for success. He knew he was looking for skills that are disappearing, and scoured the continent for the best and brightest. They all surfaced in New England.
Because cooling bronze shrinks in devilishly tricky ways, a simple copying of the original would not suffice. New, oversized patterns would have to be designed and created. Computer modeling, accounting for non-linear shrinkage,along with age-old methods of measurement and sizing, commenced with a pattern maker whose work adorns the homes of Bill Gates, Ralph Lauren and the halls of the Japanese Diet.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a small enterprise. Our products are the Porter Garden Telescope and a spinoff Sundial Bird Bath, both in bronze. We have resurrected a historic, elegant and unique treasure, and have done so for a limited audience.
Like any significant piece of art, the Garden Telescope is limited to an edition of 200. We are proud to have significantly improved on its functionality and optical performance while maintaining the integrity of its artistry.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Boston is a wonderful city for any business which demands an appreciation of art and science. It is a smart, well-educated town, abundant in people who understand the complexity and artistry of our work.
Pricing:
- the Porter Garden Telescope sells for $65,000
- the Sundial Bird Bath sells for $9,000
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gardentelescopes.com
- Phone: 617-899-9444
- Email: info@gardentelescopes.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/telescopesofvermont
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/telescopesofvermont
Image Credit:
Russ Schleipman
Corina Belle-Isle
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