Commentaries, Interviews & Profiles
'If you work hard,' wrote Brian Van Bower to open his Aqua Culture column for September 2001, 'you should get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.' 'For all of the obvious truth of that idea, I wonder how many of us hard-working folks in the watershaping trades take the time for those things that bring us enjoyment and a sense of
'As obvious as [it] may seem, it's phenomenally easy to lose sight of the immediate importance of healthful habits,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column in the July/August 2011 edition of WaterShapes. 'I know deep in my heart that being healthy is a long-term commitment, but I also know how easy it is to set that discipline aside.' 'As we make our way through [the busy] summer season, . . . it's easier than usual to set aside concerns about healthy living in favor of
'In all of the discussions in print and in seminar rooms about advancing the watershaping trades,' declared Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column in WaterShapes' July 2006 issue, 'it seems to me there's been a missing voice - that of the client. 'We spend lots of time dissecting, praising, disputing, criticizing and encouraging one another, but somehow we seem to have bypassed the thought that
'What if you were so bad at your job that a person in a related field decided, for the good of his own business, he had to learn your business and replace you rather than cope with your incompetence?' That's how Brian Van Bower eased his way into his Aqua Culture column in the May/June 2011 issue of WaterShapes. 'Most people,' he continued, 'would say that this would be a justified response to the fact that you
'It's great that more and more people in the watershaping business are interested in becoming custom designers. The way I see it,' wrote David Tisheman to start his May 2001 Details column, 'the future of the industry rests in the hands of those who strive for creativity and excellence in their work.' 'Unfortunately, however, there are those out there who are brash enough to declare themselves
As we acknowledged when we first spoke with him in 2010, the subject of this interview is known by many names in many places - Father Christmas, Père Noël, Kriss Kringle and Saint Nicholas, among others. But in America, wide-eyed children of all ages mainly know him as Santa Claus. Imagine our surprise
Andreas Sofikitis, president of Sofikitis Decorative Stones, passed away on October 28, 2014, the victim of a hit-and-run accident. I first met him at a trade show more than a dozen years ago and was immediately struck by what a nice guy he was as well as his level of enthusiasm and passion for his work. But I was even more impressed when I saw what he was producing in his fabrication shop and recognized that he was a game-changer in
An Interview by Lenny Giteck Sustainability may be a hot buzzword in the world of landscaping these days, but Bruce Zaretsky is no Johnny Appleseed-come-lately to the concept. According to Zaretsky — owner of Zaretsky and Associates, a landscape design, installation and consulting firm near Rochester, New York, and a frequent contributor to the pages of WaterShapes — he's been concerned with sustainability throughout his entire landscaping career. "I've always tried to be careful with resources and less invasive to the environment," Zaretsky says. "For instance, whenever I would replace a brick patio for a client, I'd never throw out the old bricks; I'd always leave them at the road, on a wood palette, so other people could take them. The palettes themselves — I'd either
An Interview by Lenny Giteck When Greg Wittstock built his first watergarden in his family's backyard at the ripe old age of 12, it was designed to provide a home for his pet turtles. Unfortunately, his treasured pets were not all that appreciative of a residence that leaked and had green water, so they fled the scene. He wound up ripping out and rebuilding the pond
The Anxieties of Influence