All Good Things

Eric Herman

It seems strange to write these words: In this issue, please find the last of David Tisherman’s “Details” columns. After seven years, he has decided that these monthly discussions have run their course and that it’s time to step aside.

During those seven years, David has tirelessly served what he sees as the best interests of the emerging watershaping industry. It’s true that in doing so he has prodded, poked and challenged much of the industry and has found ways to aggravate many of you – but shaking things up was really his main ambition, after all.

No matter how abrasive he has been at times, through every word of every column he has championed the idea that watershaping can and should be an art form in which excellence in design and construction should and must be the hallmarks. Although he’ll never meet his goal of relegating inferior design and shabby workmanship to the dustbin of history, he’s certainly given it a fair shot.

I’ve always been impressed by the fundamental values reflected in the scores of design, construction and engineering details he’s shared. It is one thing to profess a belief in excellence – and quite quite another to show how it’s done issue after issue, year after year, often in breathtaking fashion.

Indeed, David’s “big ideas” have always been backed up by photographic evidence: the lovely ways in which his stone drain covers blend into decks, the subtle beauty of his poured-in-place concrete copings, his harmonious use of surprising colors, the seamless ways in which materials transition within his designs, the monotony-defying spillways – and much, much more.

As I’ve worked with David through these many years, it’s always been obvious to me that he would never be truly satisfied with any progress the industry might make. He would occasionally concede (at least to me) that things had improved in one way or another, but generally he’d take that as motivation to launch another frontal assault on what he’s always seen as an industry that can’t afford a moment’s complacency as it seeks to realize its potential.

At times, some of you have expressed your frustration with the aggressiveness of his commentaries, but in far greater numbers, you’ve let me know that his messages have helped you transform your working lives for the better. (I’ve also suspected that those who’ve felt the sting of his words most sharply are among his most faithful readers.)
From the start, my collaboration with David has been filled with creative tension as we sought ways to make his columns as persuasive and powerful as they could be. In the course of our discussions, I am certain he has influenced the way I think about the industry and what it might someday accomplish. I wouldn’t describe him as a muse, exactly – but it’s safe to say he’s had a lot of influence on the way we approach watershaping in the pages of the magazine.

I’ll stop now and let David make his own farewells (click here). As I see it, this last column is less a conclusion than it is a statement of principles that will continue to influence watershaping for years to come.