I was working on the November newsletter and thinking about the things I am thankful for, in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday. One of those things is that I’m part of the exciting, growing concrete countertop industry that is rapidly expanding not just in the U.S. and Canada, but all over the world.

This inspired me to make a map of where all my students have come from. Here is the result. It’s amazing where this concrete countertop phenomenon has traveled!

CCI student map

When the owners of a golf shop approached Tony Angell to create a concrete countertop for their store remodel, they originally wanted just a plain, black countertop. That would have been fine, but not much of a challenge for Tony and not much of a focal point for the store. Instead of just settling for an average project, Tony turned this into a showpiece for both him and the golf shop. Here’s how he did it.

The owners were friends of the family, and familiar with the quality of Tony’s work in his Hugo, Minnesota based company, North Metro Concrete and Countertops. When Tony suggested getting creative, they said, “Go for it. We trust you.” And Tony did. The finished countertop incorporates the store’s name, a green, a water hazard, a sand trap, two golf clubs in the traditional crossed pose, a golf ball, blades of grass and a tee.

The owners couldn’t have been more thrilled. “They were blown away”, says Tony. “They had no idea what I was going to do beyond the store name.”

Tony’s original concept was to incorporate the store’s name, and then add some green grass to represent a golf course. But when you have a golf course, you have to have water hazards and sand traps. And you can’t play golf without a club, ball and tee. So the design kept evolving and growing as Tony used his imagination.

To create the intricate shapes in multiple colors, Tony used various techniques and careful planning:

• While other areas were pre-formed with foam, to create the blades of grass, Tony first cast that area in solid black, then used a dremmel to etch the blades, then filled them in with green grout.
• He filled in the white areas last so that other colors wouldn’t bleed into it during processing.
• The letters had to be put in the form upside down and backward, so Tony triple-checked his layout to make sure he had not reversed a letter.
• Tony designed the lettering on a computer, printed the letters out on paper, then stuck them to ½” foam and drew outlines on the foam. He cut the foam on a scroll saw and carefully smoothed the edges with a sander. (This is similar to the way I created the CCI monolith described in this article.)

All of this required probably three times more thought, planning and work than a plain black countertop, but the results are orders of magnitude more impactful. Now Tony has an amazing showpiece in a store trafficked by golf enthusiasts such as doctors and lawyers. He has some extremely happy clients who will enthusiastically recommend him, plus display his business cards and brochures on the counter.

Best of all, he got himself and his wife a set of custom golf clubs in the deal. I’m sure he’ll put them to good use, and he can even do some networking on the golf course.

Tony attended The Ultimate Concrete Countertop Training in March 2011.

No, not the chemistry of the mix – the periodic table of the elements! This table by Preben Petersen of Concrete Lifestyle in San Jose, CA illustrates the periodic table for Linn Benton Community College. Professor of physics Greg Mulder approached Preben asking if he could make a “periodic table table”. The answer of course was, “Yes”!

Preben completed The Concrete Countertop Institute’s precast and GFRC concrete countertop training in July 2009. This gave him the foundation to exercise his creativity, which he had to call on in full force to complete this project.

Far from your typical concrete countertop, this table required multiple steps and many ingredients – over 50 once all the different pigments were accounted for!  Preben used rubber from Smooth-On to create voids where the black letters and lines would be. He carefully placed in the mold multiple colors of GFRC face mix, and the rubber created voids. He later filled in the voids with black grout to create the final effect.

The intricacy of this design shows that any design or logo can be created in concrete. The only limit is your imagination.

Contact Preben at the email address info at concretelifestyle.com.

Brad Dykema of Artistic Concrete Expressions in Hamilton, MI, started out in tile. In 2006, he was doing tile projects in high end homes. Wanting to get into more kitchen-related projects, he became aware of concrete countertops and attended World of Concrete. There he met Jeff Girard and was inspired to try concrete countertops.

Brad experimented on his own for a while, then decided in April 2007 to get formal training in precast concrete countertops. Having 20 years of experience in high end tile work, he didn’t need artistic training. He recognized the importance of avoiding quality problems like staining and cracking, by learning the structure and theory behind concrete countertop construction.

After class, he got started right away, working in his 42′ by 40′ barn. In December 2008, Brad attended the GFRC class, and by July 2009 had expanded his business enough to move into a 4000 square foot shop. The new shop has a room for wet polishing and a room for spraying sealer, making it an ideal workspace for quickly producing high-quality concrete countertops.

Brad has carried his vision and passion for quality design and execution to the concrete form of art, and Artistic Concrete Expressions now fulfills that vision in the Grand Rapids and Lansing areas and throughout western Michigan.

Artistic Concrete Expressions has grown into a custom concrete fabricator of concrete countertops, furniture, fireplaces, shower bases and shower panels, serving both commercial and residential markets. Brad works closely with designers and homeowners to take their ideas and turn them into a real functional work of art, which not only will be unique but also very personal. As the Artistic Concrete Expressions motto goes, “Your imagination is our only limitation”.

616-836-1458 www.artisticconcreteexpressions.com Check out some of Brad’s creations: