| by: Fu-Tung Cheng | | | | now our nearly two-decade dance. My first |
| | | | countertop was a single piece containing 11 |
| Concrete is an extraordinary material that is | | | | cubic feet of concrete. It weighed nearly |
| practical, expressive, and aesthetic all at | | | | 1500 pounds and took 10 people-and 2 engine |
| once. From a primal and formless slurry, you | | | | hoists-to turn it over once it had cured. We |
| can transform it into virtually any shape | | | | barely managed it, but the piece came out |
| that becomes a solid mass. The possibilities | | | | beautifully and is still being put to good |
| for creative expression are endless. You can | | | | use today. |
| grind, polish, stamp, or stain it. You can | | | | |
| embed meaningful objects within it. | | | | Because of its adaptability, concrete finds |
| | | | itself welcome in all areas of the home, |
| Concrete has substance and mass, permanence | | | | especially in the kitchen and bath, but also |
| and warmth. It feels earthy, and is at home | | | | in fireplaces, patios, garden paths, or water |
| in both traditional and modern settings. It | | | | features. Concrete can also be used as a |
| assumes forms that irrevocably touch our | | | | floor material with enormous creative |
| daily lives-bridges, highways, floors, | | | | advantages whether seeded, stained, stamped, |
| walls... even countertops. Concrete is also | | | | broomed or diamond-finished. It can be a sole |
| surprisingly tactile. Cast and shaped, it can | | | | performer or play the supporting role to |
| feel like stone rounded by the sea. Textured | | | | tile, mosaics, decorative aggregates, stone, |
| and colored, it can echo the patina of | | | | wood, or metal. It is inexpensive, durable, |
| timeworn tile. | | | | noncombustible, impervious to decay, and also |
| | | | very effective for passive solar gain in the |
| It first occurred to me to make a countertop | | | | right application. |
| out of concrete in 1985, when a friend and I | | | | |
| were hired to design and renovate a | | | | With vertical treatments, concrete gives us |
| professor's house in the Berkeley Hills. He | | | | an opportunity to recapture some of the |
| gave us a modest budget and announced, "This | | | | feeling of the monolithic wall-the feeling of |
| is all I can afford to spend; do whatever you | | | | substance, of protection. Walls are also a |
| want." Armed with this rare creative license | | | | great place to explore form. A wall doesn't |
| (and plenty of youthful exuberance) we aimed | | | | have to be flat or straight, but can curve |
| to be as innovative as possible. | | | | and undulate. It can be textured to be rough |
| | | | as stone or smooth as glass. |
| This invitation to imagine, play, and explore | | | | |
| inevitably led me to experiment in my own | | | | Surrender to the impulse... carve YOUR |
| kitchen, where concrete and I began what is | | | | initials in concrete. |