Floors to take your breath away

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Dream it.

Design it.

One-a-kind floors as unique as you are.

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Those impossible shapes include intricate corners, holes, delicate and ornate designs, thanks to the computer and the waterjet. The computer's job is to interpret any design into countless pieces and parts. The job of the waterjet is to fire a super-high-powered microstream of water that reach speeds of 3,000 miles an hour through the tiniest of holes (as small as four-thousands of an inch through man-made gems sapphires, rubies or diamonds). The result is a microfine cutting jet that will slice through stone 3 to 4 inches thick and metal 4 to 5 inches thick. "It can cut just about anything," Belilove says, "although it does not perform well on soft wood and carpet which are easily saturated."

However, because the jet will cut any material from resilient vinyl and linoleum to rubber to stone, porcelain, glazed ceramic tiles, glass, and highly prized architectural metals like brass, bronze, aluminum and stainless steel, and because the tolerances are so close that every piece fits as if it were poured into a form, a dramatic new world of mixed media sculpture has opened up, thanks largely to Belilove and his partner.

Across America, people cross over designs by Creative Edge every day, from a shopping mall in Connecticut to a fancy eatery in California, from the gift shop at Graceland to the lobby of the National Security Agency, to the Bulls and White Sox logos at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to America's grandest hotels. One of the most intriguing pieces is at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. There, a curlicue in bronze is set in marble with tolerances so close that no seams are apparent. It looks as if both materials were flowed together the day the earth was born.

But nowhere is the waterjet technique and craftsmanship more stunning than at-home masterpieces.

With a vast availability of stones and other materials from around the world, and new colors and textures as compared with a generation ago, the floor has become a new flexible graphic medium of expression. It is essentially a two-dimensional sculpture.

"Think of it," says Belilove, "as of using any material fluidly, not just in squares, rectangles and other geometries. With any shape, graphic or image or combination at your disposal, you have absolute freedom of design. Affordably."

Although affordable is relative, custom patterns start at just hundreds of dollars for the design work (less of course the materials themselves and labor to install the piece.) Prices can range up to $ 50,000 and more in the custom homes of the affluent, but, as Belilove puts it, "Compared with what goes into a house of that caliber, it's pretty reasonable."

Lead-time for standard products from the Cutting Edge catalog is two to four weeks. Custom jobs take six to eight weeks. Each job is plotted and planned to be followed by any skilled craftsman. If a piece ever gets broken, since the job is on computer, it can be replaced as closely as possible, even sourced from the material's point of origin.