Jon Santiago

Jon Santiago is the owner of Hearth + Timber, a company out of Easthampton, MA focused on the construction of wood-burning brick ovens.

Born in Texas, raised in Colorado and South Carolina, Jon studied History at Yale University before trying his hand as a first-grade teacher and a Wall Street investment banker. When the Great Recession sent him packing, he set out on a journey through South America which led him to his true passion of building.

Living in the Patagonia region of Argentina for four years, he found himself immersed in a world where people were building their own beautiful homes with big timbers and heating them with hand-built wood-fired stoves influenced by the Northern European “mass stoves.” He embarked on a journey* to learn big timber carpentry and stove building, working with many great mentors in Argentina and later with others in North America. As a budding timber framer he was blessed to be accepted as a summer Apprentice at the storied Heartwood School, where he underwent an intensive study of the craft under the direction of some of the Northeast’s finest builders.

His studies in stove and oven building were given life by the Masonry Heater Assocation of North America and its generous, talented members. Along the way he has studied at the North House Folk School and the Driftless Folk School, and been a teacher at the Driftless Folk School, The Heartwood School, and several sustainable building schools in South America. He gives thanks to those who have inspired, mentored, and paved the proverbial way, including but not limited to Homestead Heat, Boreal Heat, Firespeaking, Stovemaster, and Turtlerock Masonry Heat.

*the journey is neverending