perspective
How many times have we seen a pile of artificial rocks plopped on the end or along the side of a freeform pool, left with no visual connection to anything else in the space? The answer, of course, is "countless times" - which prompts a far more important question: why? Why are we still seeing watershapes installed with edges that look to my eyes to be
By Eric Herman Dear WaterShapes EXTRA! Reader: As we all know, it’s been another tough year for the watershaping industry. Although we continue to anticipate a break in the clouds, we’re still waiting for the occasional rays of hope to gather into a full-blown economic recovery. So we soldier on seeking better days, all the while making the most of what we have in the meantime. As the editor of WaterShapes, I’m privileged to know many of you — and if grit and determination in the face of adversity are the measure of our industry’s character, then what I’ve seen these past difficult years is nothing less than inspiring. Yes, it’s been tough, but the pride and determination so many of you exhibit give me confidence that
My history with Vance Gillette and his crusades began when I was editor of Pool & Spa News. Early in 1990, he approached me with a commentary that, almost overnight, opened everyone’s eyes to a complacency and lack of direction within the pool and spa industry that threatened to
The time has come for a major change in the pool and spa industry: Time to think differently about how we promote and market our products; time to recognize that our products bring more happiness and excitement to people than anything else they can buy; and especially time to
The true test of whether a watershape is well-conceived and well-built is what happens in the minds of the clients when they view the finished product. Not only should they appreciate the beauty of the work, they should also
In the “My Perspective” piece I wrote for WaterShapes EXTRA! last May, I shared my thoughts about the universal nature of water and how our relationship to it binds watershapers from all specialties — pools, ponds, waterfalls and all the rest. Along the way, I made the point that water, in all of its perceived abundance, is too often
In this age of incredible cleverness, we are constantly devising more and better and faster ways to distract and entertain ourselves in an apparent collective effort to stay a step ahead of the vague fears that permeate our lives. As a designer and builder of watershapes, I recognize that many of my clients are seeking
Although we might not commonly think of watershaping and exterior design in this way, a great many of the details we shape are designed to fool the eye or somehow create illusions. Consider the pools that are made to appear so natural that they don’t seem to have been man-made – or vanishing edges that conjure the impression that there’s no visual boundary between the surface of a swimming pool and a distant body of water. Those are two familiar tricks of the trade, but if you stop and think about it, there are many less-obvious examples as well: water flowing under a bridge that leads to nowhere; rocks half buried in the landscape to give the illusion that they are part of a subterranean geological formation; small bits of individual tile that come together to form a mosaic image; or modular walls that appear to float in space. In my own work, to add another example, I’ve started to be deliberate about
Remembering Mark Urban