The postman has nothing over us; we deliver in rain and snow also… Last month we transported and installed a new set of concrete countertops for a beautifully remodelled home in Putney, Vermont – just 10 miles north of our studio. With an eye toward the future and realizing her lifestyle was going to change, the client had Evergreen Homebuilders do a wide-ranging makeover of her residence. The accommodations in the kitchen include a universal-access stainless steel undermount sink and a dropped (lowered) eating bar. More typically, a kitchen layout might incorporate a raised breakfast bar section but this was a client- and site-specific adaptation – much as custom concrete tops are by nature.

The kitchen was cast in our “Cayenne” base color, with black sand added for character and texture in a light polish. Maple cabinets, stainless appliances and exhaust hood, a beautiful bamboo floor, and warmly painted walls…

We revisited the scene of our first major commercial installation at Works Bakery Cafe  in Manchester, Vermont (this past summer) for a site review and to discuss an upcoming project with Richard French, the owner. Richard (“Frenchie”) is full of energy, optimism, ideas, and is just – well – contagiously alive. A great kick in the pants – and I mean that in all the best ways! I shot some of the interior while there, as we only had installation night pictures previously, and the joie d’vivre expressed in the design scheme (the work of Richard’s lovely and talented wife Christy Bonneau ) shows through in these images. And the food is great!

Art Underfoot

We’re just wrapping up another facet of the studio relocation to the Book Press building: the new office/showroom space. A 14 x 20 area was partitioned out of the 4800 sq. ft. shop to create a dust-free and “quieter” administrative workspace and display area for our concrete countertops and other cast architectural elements. We approached the project with an intention of honoring the hard-working past by giving it a new task: providing a textural counterpoint to the displays of finely finished artisan concrete which we will showcase there in the coming months.

The pre-existing  40 year old concrete slab floor was in pretty rough shape from its former life as a printing factory – gouges, drilled holes, layers of grease, ink, solvents, oil, and other nastiness had left their industrial mark. We scraped and scrubbed off the topmost layers, then rented a diamond floor grinder to get down to the raw concrete in preparation for staining it with a wash of transparent colors. We removedabout 60 pounds of concrete dust with the machine and an attached vacuum, exposing the aggregate to varying degrees in the process. Then multiple washes and wet-vaccing to clean up all residue before we spray applied 5 shades of water-based stain to create a vivid organic land/waterscape, sealed with a satin floor sealer. The result is a walkable canvas – what we call “Art Underfoot” – which will set the space apart as befits its purpose and “wow” our visitors with implications of concrete possibilities. Stop in and check it out!

A new day dawns

One of the mantras in our concrete countertop studio is KISS (and why not?) which is an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid (in a nice way…); we try to apply this wholesale to a wide range of activities. Including visual references – hmm, does that make them visceral references? And so, Captain Obvious would like to share an overt snippet:

Concrete Detail has just moved our artisan concrete design studio, production shop, and (imminent) office/showroom into a new facility at 22 Browne Court Unit 165 in Brattleboro, Vermont. New beginnings. And every day, on the commute into the shop from Wilmington, this is the view with which I am blessed, atop Hogback Mountain on VT Route 9: looking southeast from the foothills of the Green Mountains into New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

A long absence from concrete countertop blogging, engendered by a protracted business relocation, is nearly over. No new posts since early December – wow! But now, six or seven weeks later, the shop is fully shifted and is now morphing back into production as we unpack boxes and crates and attempt to get the office/showroom into the same condition. We have been working the customer relations end from the old location at the Cotton Mill, waiting for the new office build-out to be completed – with mixed success; apologies to our clients and contacts who have been caught in the fallout. The new showroom plans include an overlayed and acid-stained floor!

Several concrete countertop projects have transpired in the interim and pictures and descriptions are long overdue. I hope to remedy that soon with updated posts and accompanying photos showcasing our latest work, including two more kitchens, a couple of vanity tops, a fireplace surround ensemble, restaurant tabletops and countertops, and others. Many more are in the wings as we begin to enjoy our new space and settle into a more efficient and productive studio workspace at the Book Press building in Brattleboro’s north end. Stay tuned, please!

Open Studio Visitors

Over the past weekend, between trips to Concrete Detail’s new shop space at the Book Press, we participated in our last in-house showing at the Cotton Mill building in Brattleboro, VT. This annual three day weekend event, known as “Open Studio”, showcases about 25 businesses and artisans which are part of the 60-65 member-strong Cotton Mill complex. The former textile mill is owned and operated by Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) as an incubator facility for start-up and existing entrepreneurs. The event allows the public to witness the amazing variety of endeavors flourishing behind the  century-old three story brick walls.

Our concrete countertop studio has operated within those walls for the past three years and the Open Studio weekend has been a fantastic avenue of   direct marketing exposure for us,  as well over a thousand visitors stream through the shop space and we are able to interact directly with them.  Artisan concrete must be experienced to be understood and this is a stellar example of that magic happening… The gleam of understanding and the excitement in the onlooker’s eyes is contagious, as they begin to comprehend the possibilities displayed before them. We converse with so many people that we literally begin to run out of voice toward the end, but it is most definitely worth the effort. Those seeds planted begin to sprout dreams, and then plans, and soon another concrete countertop creation is conceived and cast for an appreciative owner. And ’round it goes…

Concrete countertops epitomize customization – and that’s the truth. No other material can be manipulated and personalized to the same degree. It’s the almost-magical phase change from liquid to solid that enables this opportunity; the artisan can work with and through the material to accomplish their design goals, be they straightforward or fantastical. Add to that the endless combinations of particular aspects such as color, shape, texture, dimension, amalgamation and the possibilities become limitless.

One example of the chameleon properties of artisan concrete countertops is the ability to coax several surface appearances from the same base. When concrete is turned out of the form, it has a solid, somewhat homogenous appearnance characterized by pigmented “cream”, the pure binder paste of cement and fines that line the face of the mold upon compaction in the pouring process. Lurking just below the surface are the aggregates that lend their strength to the matrix: first the sand grains and then the coarser particles, such as crushed stone or glass. The fabricator artist can reveal these at will, by varying the amount of grinding and polishing on the various faces of the piece. We have had a run lately (instigated by my friends in Putney) of what we term a light sand finish on the working countertop face, contrasted with a heavy grind on the vertical front edges. The subtle mottling and sparkle of the filled and polished worktop is set off by the multi-colored diamond ground profile of the counter’s edge, accented by a thin bevel where they meet. No other material can match this striking combination. Which is why we love what we do…

Does every blog entry require crisp photographs, maps and charts, or even links to other “relevant” content? Well, probably. At least the posting pundits and interweb wags would have it that way. But, I’m going rogue – at least briefly. Perhaps it’s just becasue I don’t feel like uploading another batch of pixels…

Concrete Detail is moving its concrete countertop studio to the BookPress building on the north end of the bustling burg of Brattleboro, Vermont. In two weeks. Are we looking forward to this transpiration of events? Yes and no: yes, because we will gain on several (or I should say many) fronts. More space, better space, cheaper space; better access for inbound and outbound materials and products; private entrance, showroom, room for expansion, synergistic neighbors, oh… I could go on and on.

No, because we have to schlep our worldly goods (after we sort through and fill several dustbins) piece by piece from one corner of town to another. I know, stop whining and get over it… OK, I’m over it. It’s all good.

Here we grow!

Just this morning, we flipped out a concrete countertop sink run cast in our “Slate” color which includes an integrated drainboard, as do many of our kitchens. New England residents love drainboards - maybe it is a hearkening back to our collective childhood, sitting in a grandparent’s kitchen with the big , old slate or soapstone farm sink and the wide pitched planes to each side where the dishes were set to air dry.  They are eminently practical and a perfect showcase for the three-dimensional versatility of artisan concrete. Each one is different from the previous, some subtly and some dramatically.

This drainboard uses an elemental reference to flowing water by incising ripples into the drain plane,  which is set to the right and slightly back from the undermounted sink aperture. This introduces a pleasing touch of assymmetry to the composition (any Slave to Rhythm would agree…). Immediately outside the New Hampshire window in front of which this concrete countertop will repose are the client’s lush perennial gardens; they are symbolized as well using the movement and vining shapes of the rippling grooves. Another reference wrapped into the design is the heavy roundover on the cabinet doors and their round wooden pulls.

Once installed atop the natural wood cabinets in the owner’s home, it will be apparent that this particular example of functional art was fully intended to be exactly there and nowhere else. Now, that’s integration!

Here’s a couple candid shots (by a real pro – the client) of a recent installation in nearby Putney, Vermont. The set of concrete countertops were cast in “Thunder” with a light polish but the real challenge was the lack of wiggle room once they were set in in their final resting place. In this particular project (designed by the client as well!), there were to be no backsplashes and no overhangs on the countertops – flush to the wall and the cabinetry. To add to the demand, the seams of the main ell, over ten feet long in both directions were a mortise-and-tenon style puzzle feature; this detail was extrapolated from the notched drawer pulls in the hand-crafted cherry fronts. All in all, this meant there was no room for adjustment in any direction – it HAD to fit, first try.

We were a little nervous but we took our time – easy does it -  the sections were carefully set and slid into each other… voila!  Ah yes, easy peasy, lemon squeezy.