Recently we completed an interesting project (aren’t they all?) for a returning client, which is always a nice experience. They have a beautiful contemporary home which is set in the corner of a pasture edging the woods, overlooking a sweeping view of the Green Mountains and the East Branch of the Deerfield River Valley lying between. On the second floor of the house is a light-filled library area at the top of a striking steel and cherry staircase, angling up from the ground floor. In the corner of that room they had planned a small wet bar for coffee in the morning or evening drinks on the balcony deck which fronted the dramatic mountain ridge to the west. It was a very tight alcove, difficult to access comfortably, but it was in the right place for their purpose and needed a customized approach to utilize it to best advantage. Enter artisan concrete!

Inspiration cue

They showed me a ceramic bowl which could provide a color cue to start the project. We were off to a good start already – such a pleasure to collaborate with clients who understood the process from the get-go. It was a warm buttery yellow which would work well with the natural maple flooring and casings in the space; it also picked hints from the artwork hanging nearby. These are the factors that we look for in our work as concrete craftspersons (all PC now): what belongs here? What is the appropriate response?

The alcove in the corner

I wrestled with the intended installation spot: trying to come up with something that would fit and look as if it belonged there, not shoehorned into a compromised accommodation… I decided we needed some strong curves to soften the hard corners of the niche and to help make access to the sink comfortable, which would necessarily be pushed to the back of the space. We had to work with the fact that there was a mini-fridge under the top, which would interfere with drainage routing, if the top was to be mounted at a reasonable user height. (This is a graphic example of the sort of situations that come into play routinely during our design stages)

The solution

I designed a sink with the drain at the extreme rear of the bowl, so as to miss the appliance beneath as the piping exited. The faucet was tucked in tight to the rim so  that a coffee maker could be accommodated in the right rear corner. A scooped arc across the front allowed proximity for the user, and a shelf down the adjoining wall eased the transition from the room into the alcove.  I decided to use a hand-pressed concrete placement technique to give some variety of  texture against a solid wall and a little organic variability to the surface. There is a reason for everything when designing concrete – when the possibilities are limitless, it is important to know where your focus lies and follow through on the promise. And this is what resulted!

Details matter

Another concrete story, fittingly placed in a library. Different story, different conclusion. Happy endings.

Pantone, the world-reknowned authority on color, has announced that the color of the year for 2010 is Turquoise, specifically #15-5519 in their coding scheme. What does that mean? Well, it will get a lot of buzz in the fashion and design world, and show up in increasingly large amounts in our current surroundings until a new lucky winner is announced. But for some people, turquoise is already a favorite and the endorsement of a global taste-maker is only icing on the already-baked cake.

We have been working on a custom vanity top with an integral sink for a local client with whom we have had a pleasant collaboration in the past – a garden sculpture/fountain. Expanding on the ideas we explored in that venture, we are now incorporating them into into the new commission. The  four foot wide top is hand-pressed in natural gray concrete (our “Stone” tone) and features a gently rounded, deep oblong basin inspired by an antique  hand-carved wooden bowl. On the edge of the basin is a  terraced soap recess which will hold a special incised leaf tile. The faucet fixture is a wall-mount style, a Waterbridge style in Rustic Nickle finish, from Sonoma Forge. We created a narrow backsplash “shelf ” to house the fixture at the back of the concrete countertop, since the wall partition there was too shallow to accomodate it. The whole is acid-stained in the aforementioned turquoise, with a touch of green and brown, to work into the bathroom’s design scheme. This includes warm Mexican tile on the floor, original natural wood trim and cabinetry, and white fixtures and tub/tile surround with a sprinkle of turquoise blue decorative inserts.  Another wonderful example of artisan concrete’s ability to become whatever one might wish!

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!

Concrete Detail is creating a one-of-a-kind garden sculpture that will incorporate a bubbling water feature for a local family’s private backyard retreat. Simply put (and simple is always “more than meets the eye” than it appears!), it is a shallow concrete bowl set into a receiving free-form catchment basin. The water will well up from the center of the bowl and overflow its rim, infinity style, and be caught in the surrounding basin. From there it drops through a drain hole into the buried sump where a submersible pump completes the cycle.

These components were hand cast in plain gray portland concrete, using a glass bowl as an inital form and a lostwax sandcast technique to form the positive and negative match of the other element. A simple formliner technique was used to create small veins and patterns over the visible surface. They were carefully wet-cured for strength, lightly polished and filled to reduce porosity, and then acid stained with several colors, applied to create an organic, lush look. The clean smooth shape of the center vessel contrasts with the random “puddle” edge of the catchment basin. This sculpture will rest on a bed of stones near the patio plantings and provide a restful  fluid  background with ever-changing light patterns to soothe the people relaxing nearby.

We installed the complete new set of concrete countertops, replete with a concrete sink for an iced product display, last night. Flipping the restaurant overnight made for an interesting but rewarding experience for Concrete Detail. The rest of the crew on hand were extremely competent and friendly, so the evening proceeded apace. Fixtures were fabricated and installed by Vermont Store Fixtures of Danby, VT of cherry veneered ply to fit the space and the store’s requirements. Owner Richard French was on hand, supervising and jumping in with cordless screwgun in hand as needed, and helping the turnover to stay on track. It is Richard’s commitment to local community and sustainability that brought us into this project in the first place, and we thank him for adding us to the team and look forward to many more fruitful and creative opportunities to partner with him and Works Bakery Cafe!

Concrete Sink Demolded

We just demolded the latest concrete countertop creation – a large shallow sink  to be used as an iced beverage display in a full remodel at a well-known eatery in Manchester, Vermont: Works Bakery Cafe. We are creating all the worktops and service counters, as well as the cafe tables and the aforementioned ice bin display. Half of the new tops are wetcast and the other half are hand-pressed for a tone-on-tone effect (a la my good friend Buddy Rhodes. There is a total of about 20 pieces in the whole project, a big job for us, but worthwhile.

Works Bakery Cafe has a strong affirmation to utilize sustainable building practices and materials in all of its retail outlets, as part of its corporate commitment to environmental and social responsibility. Cast elements created by Concrete Detail and used in the Manchester store are a part of that philosophy; they are locally hand-crafted using regionally obtained raw materials, they are naturally inert surfaces which incorporate recycled content in their makeup, they are formed and cast specifically for the restaurant’s applications with no wasted material in fabrication, and they are custom designed especially for the task, so they are an environmentally sound, appropriate solution for the project.

More to come!

Windham Art Gallery (WAG) in Brattleboro, VT will have an opening reception tonight for their annual Open Salon Exhibition, featuring the work of 60 artists from the surounding area who are non-members of the gallery. The submittals cover a wide range of media, many showing publicly for the first time as well as some more familiar names. Rich Holschuh of Concrete Detail has contributed a cast concrete garden vessel, a shallow bowl intended to catch water and sky. It is handpressed in natural gray concrete, acid-stained in several shades, and carved around the rim in a pattern of   divergent lines.

The gallery reception runs in conjunction with Brattleboro’s ever-popular Gallery Walk event, held on the first Friday evening of every month year-round. Dozens of art venues in the downtown and nearby area will be open for appreciative visitors to partake in the monthly feast of the senses: paintings, music, sculpture, dance performances, food, and more. Brattleboro consistently ranks very high on the list of best small “art communities” in the country – Hometown, USA I am happy to say!

Today we installed the completed concrete composition which will anchor the design theme for the lavatory at Enright & Co.’s new salon and spa space on Canal Street in Brattleboro, VT. The project was a rewarding collaboration between Concrete Detail (yours truly) and Bryan Louisell, who conceptualized the interior design of the Aveda concept salon. Opening to the public in a week or so, the ambience is built around calming, earthy colors and natural textures.  Lauren Henry lent her expert eye in coordinating the overall color scheme.

The concrete elements are cast in bronze and sage green; the integral sink top is a flowing semi-circle with a deep round bowl, set on a slight oblique angle in the corner of the room. Behind it, covering the wall full-width, are two concrete sculpted panels and a large mirror, making a triptych with a Zen garden inspiration, and drawing references from the Aveda commitment to naturally derived health and beauty. The panels are retained by a set of shiplapped concrete cleats bolted to the wall, which also act as backsplash to the sink area.

The concrete is cast with flyash and VCAS, two recycled replacements for portland cement, which effectively create a better performing end-product, as well as lessening the environmental impact . There is a sprinkling of crushed recycled glass as well in the countertop surface for depth and contrast. The faucet is by Ikea.

We have sealed the cast elements for the Enright & Co. lavatory, in preparation for installation later this week. The grand opening is the following week and the new fixtures will be getting a workout right away. The integral sink and top is sealed with a water-based epoxy/urethane system that is maintenance free and extremely durable. The wall panels are sealed with an enhancing penetrating sealer, being purely decorative pieces. This brings out the color and repels incidental water splashed by overzealous hand washers…

The integral sink for the lavatory at the new space for Enright & Co. is fully processed and ready for sealing and then installation. The crushed bottle glass has been ground and exposed, and then diamond polished to bring a sparkling swath of amber along the left edge of the top. The inset rim and bowl of the unit is unground and lightly polished to lend contrast to the perimeter.

We will attach steel angle to the underside for mounting and turn our attention to finishing the  wall panels and mounting cleats next. Bryan brought the sink’s wall mirror by the studio yesterday so that we can match up layouts and setbacks.