The world's foremost resource on decorative concrete
This column has little to do with discussions of intuitive freestyle art versus disciplined mechanical graphics, or with criticism of superfluous decoration as contrasted with really spare concrete – my normal "literary" territory. It’s a column about me and a museum. It’s a tale of two topping slabs.
Evil allows you to appreciate good. The occasional really bad customer makes you appreciate all the more the even more occasional really good customer. Night makes you appreciate the day. Cool makes you appreciate warm.
Mike Miller explores examples of the concept of sensory concrete, which gives the material a voice. Sometimes the material is the concrete itself, and sometimes it’s the material or the process influencing the concrete.
There were even unbelievable benefits from a concrete contractor’s standpoint. As Singapore is near the equator, temperatures are very stable and don’t typically swing much or swing quickly. It’s also quite humid. What this meant, from a concreter’s standpoint, was great latitude as to contraction joints.
Mike likes his concrete the same way he likes his breads and cheeses, with every bit of the material exuding something interesting and reflecting the character of the ambient conditions and personalities that shaped it. And he’s not the only one who feels like this.
From floors to countertops, coloring and staining concrete has brought a lifetime of memories to this contractor. Columnist and self-proclaimed "concretist" takes us on a trip back to some of his favorite projects over the years.
In concrete construction, as in society today in general, being green is hip. And part of being green includes recycling. Recycling materials: Collapsed L.A. freeways are demolished, stripped of reinforcing steel, and crushed, to rise again as an aggregate component in their replacements.
There’s something about its weight. There’s something about its economy of purpose, its honesty, and sometimes, its beauty. There’s just something about natural gray concrete. And the longer I’ve been in the decorative concrete field, with options for coloring systems ever increasing, the more I’ve come to appreciate it.
Maintenance is something that torments most decorative concrete contractors, unless, that is, there is a significant maintenance profit center to their business. In the case of The Concretist, there is not.
Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars on Parisian cobblestone stamps? A flight to Paris and a hotel for the weekend, for both concrete contractor and client to share mutual experiences and gather ideas, would’ve been cheaper and the real deal!
