Set in Stone: Uncovering the 2026 OHNY Weekend Design
An unexpected gem of last year’s Open House New York Weekend was found on the eighth floor of a nondescript Garment District building. Pellettieri Stone Carvers’ Academy, which preserves the ancient art of shaping raw materials by hand by providing training in traditional stone carving for people of all ages and experience, drew hundreds of visitors over the course of the festival.
For the 2026 OHNY Weekend, we partnered with the academy’s founder, master carver Chris Pellettieri, to design and create a custom sculpture for the festival, set to take place this October 16–18. During the festival, Pellettieri Stone Carvers' Academy will open its workspace for Drop-In Access, giving New Yorkers the opportunity to see stone carving demonstrations, view in-progress and finished work from Academy trainees, and try their hand using traditional tools.
Background: Chris and the Stone Carvers' Academy
Chris Pellettieri began his stone carving career as an apprentice at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, and fell in love with the tradition immediately. When his apprenticeship ended, he was able to remain there as an artist-in-residence, even opening his work space for the 2011 OHNY Weekend, advertising his participation with a handmade poster. In 2025, after founding the Stone Carvers’ Academy a decade prior, Chris moved his studio into its current home in the Garment District. Encouraged by his wife to open the doors of the Academy for New Yorkers to visit, Chris reached out to the festival with a fateful email, with the subject line “I’d like to host an open house.”
Last October, Pellettieri Stone Carvers’ Academy opened its doors for public visits, seeing over 700 visitors across two days.
Chris and the students were great, and it was cool to try stone carving. Amazing to know a place like this exists, and that it's possible to start learning the craft. You really can learn anything here in NYC!
2025 OHNY Weekend Participant
Pellettieri Stone Carvers' Academy during 2025 OHNY Weekend
Credit: Josef PinlacDesign Process
After last year’s incredible partnership with Noble Signs, the OHNY team wanted to collaborate with another festival partner, and incorporate their craft in designing a physical version of the Open House New York Weekend logo. In collaboration with OHNY and designers PS New York, Chris Pellettieri answered the call by creating a custom carving which embodies the grand, celebratory nature of the festival. The overlaid lettering and naturalistic borders carved into its face uncover the complexity of the stone itself, much like OHNY Weekend peels back the layers of the city to reveal why it looks, feels, and functions the way it does.
We spoke with Chris from his studio about the origins of his craft, the inspiration behind the custom design, and why stone remains an important facet of the built environment in New York, and cities across the world.
What sort of inspiration or references were you pulling from when carving the 2026 OHNY Weekend logo?
It started with the idea of a monogram, which is usually someone’s initials where the letter forms are overlaid on top of one another. When I finished an earlier monogram, I was struck by how the background and the letters reminded me of the graffitied “Wild Style” murals that used to be on the basketball courts in Riverside Park in the mid-1980s. That spray-painted graffiti style and its letter styles feels very New York City-born, and it’s been exported everywhere. It’s a very powerful artistic movement, and it would be worth celebrating as it’s inspired a lot of people.
Graffiti-style monogram carving
Credit: Chris PellettieriWhere did the piece of stone come from?
The surface that I started with was originally part of a bench from the Columbia University campus. The bench broke and, instead of throwing it away, they donated it to me. The surface is a cool texture which I couldn’t create myself without having a piece of stone which has been out in the weather and the elements for a long time. I thought that gave the piece a nice “tone.” When I think of ways of creating tones that mimic color, it’s really about texture as an added element of the overall piece. The cracking and breaking and fragmenting of the border around the words also reminded me of that Wild Style graffiti: there’s an element of excitement and eruption, and it’s a better frame for an energetic piece than something more orderly.
How was the experience of opening your doors for OHNY Weekend last year?
When we registered, I tried to do the math on how many people to expect. We were opening for eight hours, and I thought “hmm…maybe 400 people total?” And I think we ended up having almost twice as many people as that! The room was full for all of the demonstrations, and it was exciting to have so many people’s attention and laughing at my jokes, and just being present for it all. It took a lot of energy but it left me feeling really good.
My wife was there for the demonstrations, and she’s good about reminding me to remember certain stories and use the analogies I like to use. She was a kindergarten teacher so she’s good at hearing a story from the audience’s point of view. We’ve developed a humorous sort of interplay for these presentations. On our second day of OHNY Weekend, as I finished a demo, we had these people come up to us and say, “We had friends here yesterday, and they told us not to miss the husband and wife comedy team!” It took us a moment to realize they were talking about us!
Pellettieri Stone Carvers' Academy during 2025 OHNY Weekend
Credit: Rocco CeteraHow did opening your doors for the festival impact your work?
I do things for a reason, and I do things to make an impact. Having people show up is gratifying, but what I’m measuring in terms of success is having more people in our classes, having more commissions, and having students achieving more. But having that kind of turn out was very immediate and very exciting, and not to just have people come and go, but respond to the work the way they did. My trainees who were helping out and demonstrating felt very energized and inspired, and had a lot of fun which meant a lot to me.
While we were open, I put out some of my students’ work on tables as a sort of exhibition with little booklets for people to write comments. They wrote the most beautiful things and the students, when they read those comments, were really excited that what they were doing was important and motivated them to do more. It was not just visits, it was quality visits. I was really touched by it.
We heard that you had an unexpected visitor during the festival last year?
Yes. Part of my vision for the Academy is to have students do a project collaboratively, where they’re pooling their skills together to create something more permanent that can live in a public space somewhere, where it becomes part of New York City. I started thinking about community gardens and heard about the New York Restoration Project, which manages and maintains community gardens across the city. It was founded by the actress Bette Midler, and so I got it in my mind that if I ever got a moment with her, I would pitch her on the idea. But I never expected that I would (laughs).
We were cleaning up at the end of our open hours on Friday last year during the festival, and in walks Bette Midler! There was an OHNY Weekend poster up in the building lobby and I think she noticed it and decided to come by. I gave her a really quick demo and showed her the students' work, and I think she even tried carving for a few moments as many people do, and then I pitched her my idea. She liked it and said it could be a real possibility, and promised to tell the NYRP Executive Director. That was on Friday, and by Monday I had already gotten an email from them.
What can festival participants look forward to at the Stone Carvers’ Academy during OHNY Weekend this year?
There will be demonstrations, both by me and by the trainees, of the ancient traditional methods of stone carving. We’ll have works-in-progress and finished work on view, and there will be blocks of stone where people can try stone carving on their own. Plus, we’ll have a block of plaster which is softer and a bit more ideal for kids. Anyone who can hold a hammer can try carving the plaster block, and there may even be some hidden prizes inside.
What’s your vision for the Stone Carver’s Academy, and what is the best way for people to support you?
We’re still slowly working towards the full-blown vision of what I have for a Stone Carver’s Academy, which would look a lot like where I learned at the Cathedral with full time employment and learning on the job. It takes a long time to learn this work, and there’s only so much you can teach in the course of a class. But, it’s difficult to achieve the full vision overnight.
If people are interested in supporting us, they can learn more on our website, where there is an option to make a tax-deductible donation and information about our Fall 2026 part-time stone carving classes. I also accept commissions as part of my independent stone carving business, and I've worked for architects, designers, and contractors as well as directly for the people who will be living with my work.
During OHNY Weekend, we’ll also have t-shirts for sale at our workspace. We finally created Pellettieri Stone Carvers' Academy shirts with a custom design reflecting the regrowth of our ancient industry. We just made a little emblem for the front of the shirt that’s a play on the Great Seal of the United States, but instead of a bald eagle holding an olive branch and arrows, it’s a pigeon holding a hammer and a chisel. More New York. The money from the shirt sales will go back into our programs, teaching and training people in the tradition of stone carving with hand tools.
PS New York, Creative Direction
PS New York is a creative agency specializing in brand identity, interactive and print. Established in 2004 by Penny Hardy, PS New York has cultivated a diverse and extensive client base within the architectural, real estate and cultural communities, and has worked with Open House New York for more than a decade.
Learn more about PS New York at psnewyork.com.
Molly Woodward, Photographer
Molly Woodward is a documentary photographer, designer, and writer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her long-term project, Vernacular Typography, documenting the fading typographic landscape around the world, was fiscally sponsored by New York Foundation for the Arts and exhibited in a solo show at the Usagi Gallery in Brooklyn, New York.
Learn more about Molly and her work at photo.mollywoodward.com, and follow her Vernacular Typography project on Instagram at @vernaculartypography.