rockwork
When you work on projects in which stone is commonly measured in the thousands of tons and streams are frequently described in fractions of miles, you’re not easily impressed by size. This job, however, was remarkably vast – a project driven by creative passion and a client’s desire to
By Steve Sandalis We recently completed a project that truly thrilled a pair of well-traveled,…
From postage-stamp miniatures to lake-scale behemoths, it’s no stretch to say that ponds come in all sizes. While it’s certainly true that big ones give their owners boundless options when it comes to creating large ecosystems that support plenty of fish and plants, we’ve learned
The satisfaction that comes with completing beautiful, fully functional ponds is truly special – and when the water is intended for occupation by amazing fish, it gets even better. As was showcased in the first of the two parts of this video, we at Full Service Aquatics (Summit, N.J.) had been called in to convert a derelict swimming pool on the grounds of a major garden center into a pond the management could use to
As a long-time pond installer, I have no fear when it comes to tackling large projects. In this case, a garden center in our area asked us to convert a derelict swimming pool on the property into a showpiece pond/waterfall complex the center could use to entice customers into thinking about aquatic settings and plants. We
This project is all about making connections – connections between the inside of a home and the outdoors; between surrounding wide-open spaces and an intimate backyard; between the colors of the hillsides and the materials used in crafting the watershape; between the clients’ desire for recreation and their passion for beauty; and between the beauty of nature and the modern, sculptural lines of the design. In style, this freeform, vanishing-edge pool and raised spa are
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
It’s frequently tough to figure out how a person ever finds his or her way into a specific line of work. In my case, for example, I more or less fell into the faux-rock trade, never imagining that what seemed like a blind stumble would ultimately unlock my imagination in a whole range of unexpected ways. It all started when I was working in the oil industry in Alaska in the 1980s. When petroleum prices dropped, I was out of work and moved back to my home town of Tucson, Ariz., where I was hired as a laborer by the Larson Company, which was among the trailblazing firms starting to work in faux rock. I began by mixing concrete and did my fair share of grunt work. As luck would have it, I began showing some artistic promise and in a relatively short time found myself working on major projects and learning the process literally from the ground up. After a couple of hard years, I became a superintendent, a promotion that led to my involvement in major overseas projects, including aquariums in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, as well as an extended stay in Italy. These were wonderful, formative experiences, but eventually I struck out on my own and
