Labyrinths: The Long and Winding Role
After awhile, Kermeen started advertising his skill in landscape magazines, which led to a call from a man asking if he could build a labyrinth.
“I didn’t even know what a labyrinth was at that point,” he admits. “After having him explain a little bit about it and telling me some books I should purchase, I became totally obsessed with the process.”
Click photo to enlargeHe adds that the man was looking for a Chartres labyrinth, one of the most famous of the world’s cathedral labyrinths.
“It’s deep in geometry and math and that was a challenge that was pretty intense,” Kermeen says. “I thrived on it.”
Soon after Kermeen completed his first labyrinth, the couple received an invitation to join a group of enthusiasts starting the Labyrinth Society.
“Debi and I are two of the founding members of the society,” he says. “The society has a website and also sponsors a worldwide labyrinth locator. The society has made it possible for most people who are labyrinth enthusiasts to know who we are,.
“When people want a labyrinth they either contact a regional labyrinth enthusiast who tells them about us, or they Google us. Our website gets a good amount of traffic and positive feedback.”
A PATH
Kermeen says his labyrinth customers are a fairly diverse lot.
“We have created labyrinths for hospitals, cancer centers, universities, schools, public parks, community centers, spas and a lot of churches,” he says. “However, there’s one thing that ties them together, and that’s a running theme about nurturing yourself and making yourself better on the inside.”
Labyrinths have a single path that leads to the center and provides a sacred space for prayer, mediation, and inner reflection; they are also useful for bringing people together. The Kermeens call them “interactive art”
It’s also unlikely that someone installing retaining walls is going to be the recipient of letters and e-mails from people who’ve had a life-altering experience, but the Kermeens routinely hear from people who feel their lives have been changed by walking their labyrinths.
“We’re well aware that it’s not us or the pavers,” Marty Kermeen says. “We feel just having a hand in creating a space that allows this to happen is a pretty humbling experience.”
While he enjoys the challenge of creating these special pathways, Kermeen says in the end the positive feedback they get from people is what keeps the couple in the labyrinth business.
“It keeps Debi and me motivated through the challenges it brings us,” he says. “It would definitely be much easier to be a hardscaper in the Chicago area. We didn’t pursue this; it’s almost like it sought us out and we’re just following the path we were led to.”
Still, spirituality aside, the process of working with a client to develop a labyrinth is quite similar to coming up with that retaining wall.
“We start by discussing what pattern the client would like, based on the size of the space and the budget,” Kermeen explains. “Then, we choose colors, come up with a price and set a schedule.”
One important aspect of building a good labyrinth, he says, is using good materials. Much of his work is done with pavers from Paveloc Industries Inc., in Marengo, Ill.
“Rarely do we use local pavers,” Kermeen says. “Paveloc is the best manufacturer I’ve seen in the country, and I have their pavers shipped to the jobsite.”
