Zodiac Pool Systems (Vista, CA) now offers nicheless LED lights featuring HydroCool technology through its…
WhiteWater West (Richmond, British Columbia, Canada) offers Life Floor, a flooring system designed to minimize…
Paloform (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) manufactures Bol fire pits made from Cor-Ten steel as a dramatic…
Great American Waterfall Co. (Hudson, FL) manufactures Aqua Storm, a system for wet walls or…
Pentair Aquatic Systems (Sanford, NC) makes the IntelliLevel water-leveling system. The units allow for accurate…
At this point 20 years ago, WaterShapes was running at full throttle as we prepared to publish our first-ever printed edition in February 1999. In that era, this meant we had to have the final version of our premiere issue in the printer's hands very early in January. From the hatching of the initial concept in
'Growing as a designer,' wrote Brian Van Bower to start his Aqua Culture column in October 2008, 'is often a matter of seeing things from fresh perspectives. 'As one with roots in the pool industry, for example, I once thought first about water and about plants and softscape later (if at all). That bias isn't uncommon, of course: I know plenty of landscape architects and designers who think about plants first and only later
'Growing as a designer,' wrote Brian Van Bower to start his Aqua Culture column in October 2008, 'is often a matter of seeing things from fresh perspectives. 'As one with roots in the pool industry, for example, I once thought first about water and about plants and softscape later (if at all). That bias isn't uncommon, of course: I know plenty of landscape architects and designers who think about plants first and only later
As I've gotten better at what I do as a watershaper, I've found that lots of the maturing has been related to getting really good at listening to my clients. Once I figured out how to attune myself to their visions and voices and set aside my ego (however temporary that might be), I found that my designs crackled with new energy I was borrowing from people who wanted my help in expressing themselves. That's the artistic, inspired side of watershaping, of course, and as my listening skills grew and my projects took on new and sometimes
I consider myself fortunate to work in a part of the country where the soil holds few mysteries. There's a lot of clay, which means we make our shells stronger than you typically do in the sandy soils of Florida, but we don't generally have the sorts of steep slopes where you have to worry about having a pool
