A real website for an impossible utopia. This monastery sustained itself through its on-line store that sold resident monks crafts, art and beer. It once existed at monasteryproject.com from 2007-09.
The Monastery Project was a collaborative capitalist utopia, created for artists and craftspeople to have a space for working and living in close proximity to Manhattan, but without the costs or stress.
The Monastery Project Monks live hidden lives with a simple mission to live according to their observances and support themselves with minimal contact to the outside world. They lead a prioritized lifestyle of craft, meditation and community life. The Monastery Project borrows from the Trappist traditions of brewing beer and the Shaker tradition of building furniture and crafts. The Shakers believed they were closest to their god during their craft process resulting in supreme work. We hope to convey this same understanding from the beer that is brewed to the beer stein it fills.
Every product has been faithfully made by Monastery Project Monks hands and should never be thrown out. The Monastery Project's sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle serves as inspiration to consumers to look for the same value in product as production. Every purchase supports this local, sustainable practice of production of art and craft that is virtually wasteless.
