Waterjet-cut marble offers luxury underfoot at the Las Vegas Hilton

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"The border, which is one of two waterjet-cut designs for the suite, is comprised of more than 1,000 individually cut pieces of stone from more than 50 slabs of Veluto red, Morgan red, Rojo Alicante, green and yellow onyx, white Carrera and light and dark Verde Oriental marble all imported from Italy."

The original design was mapped via computer with special concerns taken for the fitting together of so many pieces and the managing of grout lines for a motif that flowed effortlessly around the magnificent hand tufted carpet. From start to finish, the border was completed in three months' time. "In packaging the border for shipment to Las Vegas, we handled each piece very preciously-like jewels," notes Belilove.

The rendering of the designer's border motif from a sketch on paper into stone was of great importance to Creative Edge creative director Harri Aalto. "We were concerned how the different colored marbles chosen would be affected by the waterjet-cutting process. Although the waterjet cuts through stone quickly, making clean, consistent and practically invisible grout lines, one needs to take into consideration the more heavily veined material. For this, we positioned the veined marble under the waterjet in such a way to reduce the possibility of cracking due to future wear and tear once installed on the suite floor. Too often, aesthetics can overshadow the material's day-to-day performance under constant foot traffic."

Elsewhere in the suite, another waterjet design is found on the floor in the form of a 6'-wide medallion in the entry, also fabricated by Creative Edge. In addition, two 8'wide tables with waterjet-cut marble tops (one with embedded temperature and lighting controls) complement the highly decorative interiors.

Aalto points out that without waterjet technology, an installation as elaborate as the North Villa would have been much too costly to consider. "Even the most intricate of stone artworks from the Italian Renaissance," he says, "utilized stone much thinner than the 3/4" slabs we used for the suite-imagine having to cut thousands of such thick pieces today by hand."

Perhaps projects like the Hilton suites are the dawning of a new Renaissance in which an array of like and dissimilar materials (brass, wood, glass, stone and ceramic tile) can be joined via modern technology to create a new vocabulary of design expression.

"Design is entertainment here," says Conversano in summing up the look of probably one of the world's most expensive suites in, certainly, one of the most entertaining cities ever designed.

The North Villa, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, Nevada

Interior design: Henry Conversano and Associates
Waterjet fabrication: Creative Edge Corporation
Tile supplier and installation: Catello Tile and Marble
Fabrication and coordination: Jerry Gregory, Catello Tile and Marble
Field superintendent: Sandy Cooke
Marble: Carli Cav Oreste and Company, Carrara, Italy

Ron Treister is owner of Communicators International, Ltd., a marketing communications firm based in Glenview, Illinois.