innovation
Back in January 2009, WaterShapes ran a big article on the team effort involved in installing the first-generation rainwater-harvesting system developed by the folks at Aquascape (St. Charles, Ill.). Ed Beaulieu’s article (linked below) went into great detail on how everything came together, so I won’t duplicate that information here. But I feel obliged to stress the point that a
There’s nothing like a good breeze to turn swimming pools and other watershapes into magnets for debris – especially if there are still plenty of leaves on the trees. We had gusting winds of record strength here in Southern California the other day – enough, in fact, to make the national news. When I walked out into my backyard the next day, the skimmer basket was full and the pool cleaner had
Looking beyond standard modes of operation is nothing new for watershapers: It’s how many of us grow professionally. In my case, for example, I’ve moved in a variety of different directions in my career, and I’ve found that each of these endeavors has added substance and insight to both my business and professional acumen. Some experiences are more valuable than others, of course, but I’ve always found something positive and a few times have watched my business transform and grow before my eyes. Looking back, it’s been quite a journey. I began my career more than 20 years ago with
If you ask my employees and manage to get an unguarded response, they’ll tell you that I’m an unrelenting pain in the neck – a real tyrant. That’s because I’m always asking nagging sorts of questions such as, “Why isn’t this project finished yet?” or “How much longer is this going to take?” or “Can you speed things up?” My point in asking, of course, is to let them know on some level that if I were on site and was responsible for what was happening, we’d already be
I’m constantly amazed by innovation: Just when you think a device or system or technology has reached its limits, something comes along to advance things a notch or two and the whole cycle begins again. And the most interesting thing is that innovation often comes without truly being driven by need. Take telecommunications as an example: We were all getting along pretty well with land-based telephones when
Not long ago, a friend and I were talking the about worn-out phrases, and “thinking outside the box” was one of them. As he pointed out, it’s remarkably ironic that we now use a cliché to
If you're like me, news stories in magazines and on television that cover innovations in science and technology are far more interesting than about 95 percent of the stuff featured in the mainstream media these days. To me, few things are more intriguing than peeking in on the
In Costa Rica, the people have a saying, pura vida, which in English roughly translates to "pure life." We also are known to say, cual es el apuro, which means, "What's the hurry?" Those two unofficial national slogans reflect the essence of life in this country, where relaxation, an appreciation of natural beauty, love of family and a peaceful spirit are defining characteristics for the society. But even in a place like Costa Rica, where the pace of life is slow, relaxed and easy, timing is still everything. About three years ago, it occurred to me that a variety of social and economic factors were creating a watershape market in Costa Rica in which a truly high-end, quality-oriented custom company could become quite successful. Those factors - Costa Rica's rising profile as
For years, conventional wisdom has held that many of the advances in watershape design incubate in the commercial realm and then slowly percolate over to the residential market as our clients ask for features they've seen on vacation and elsewhere. That paradigm holds up to this day in many ways, but what's less acknowledged and, I believe, more prevalent in today's market is an opposite trend in which commercial clients are requesting details that are more closely associated with residential pools. In fact, it's my observation that the
Life on the Leading Edge