Floors to Take Your Breath Away

FloorDécor - Interior Design Magazine

Volume 1, Issue 1 - 2005

By Sonna Calandrino, industry consultant for 25 years and founder of Fabulous Floors magazine

Room Photography by Chawla Architectural Photography.

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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 flu-idly, 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 (not including the materials 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.

It's an affordable luxury.

Art for the floor.

One exquisite accent or a total transformation.

It's your choice.

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