Coverings 2013. IDCEC Approved Sessions

Coverings is a little over a month away. Make sure you don't miss it this year. Atlanta, Ga. April 29 - May 2.  

The Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC) is the premier advocate for continuing education and the advancement of the interior design profession. As such, the IDCEC has approved the list of Coverings sessions that follow. Coverings, The Ultimate Tile + Stone Experience, is being held this year from April 29 through May 2 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Continuing education strengthens the interior design profession by improving individual attitudes, competencies, knowledge and skills in specific subject areas essential to interior design. Attending Coverings is a tremendous opportunity to learn, network and earn FREE CEUs. 

Below is a link to the IDCEC Approved Sessions.
http://blog.coverings.com/a-list-of-idcec-approved-sessions-at-coverings/

The Official Sign Of Spring ... Bistro Green.

Who cares about a groundhog... The official sign of Spring has arrived, Bistro Green Vetrazzo Slabs.

A warm breeze at a sidewalk café...a bottle of sparkling water or wine between you and a friend. Afterward, the plates are cleared and the bottles head toward their next destination to be brilliantly repurposed. To think, all you did was visit a friend.

When you take the extra step of putting your glass waste into the recycling bin, you're doing something good. Those bottles and jars that held all your culinary necessities are sent to be processed and put back into use. The glass in this mix is from your kitchen...your soda bottles, olive oil containers, pickle jars, wine and water bottles could have been waste. Instead here they are, made into something beautiful: Bistro Green

 

 

 

Cobalt Skyy ®

A festive evening with friends sampling savory treats and drinking top-shelf spirits poured from a lovely cobalt blue Skyy® Vodka bottle. The bottles from last night’s soiree become our top shelf mix.

Excellent vodka, poured from Skyy’s signature deep blue bottles, makes a fantastic cocktail. The bottles look lovely on the shelf, and while you're pouring the drinks, but after being recycled, they look even better in this Vetrazzo® mix: Cobalt Skyy.

 

 

StoneExpo

Vetrazzo will be at STONEXPO/MARMOMACC AMERICAS this year demonstrating some of the techniques for producing gorgeous finished products from Vetrazzo, and Polycor's newest release, Karma Stone.

Reps from Alpha Professional Tools will be inBooth showing us how it's done with some of the industry's most well engineered hand tooling.

StonExpo is the largest international stone show held in the United States, averaging nearly 200 companies and over 6,000 attendees from around the world. StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas is co-located with SURFACES, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Booth : B958 Bayside Level 1.

Exhibit Hall Hours:
Tuesday, Jan 29    9:00am - 5:00pm
Wednesday, Jan 30    9:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday, Jan 31    9:00am - 3:00pm

   

   

Happy Holidays

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOUR FAMILY .... 

FROM THE VETRAZZO FAMILY

Design Guide Editorial, Vetrazzo Recycled Glass

When we think recycled glass, we think of coke bottles, but we never think of what it could be used for. Vetrazzo'stransforms recycled glass into beautiful surfaces that can be used for bathrooms, kitchens, bars, tables, fireplace mantles and so much more. What is so great and beautiful about this product is that each piece of glass holds its own story. From beginning to end Vetrazzo's tracks the history of the glass. Just as a grandmother passes a family treasure to a grandchild, you receive a history of something beautiful to create your own history with. This product comes in so many wonderful colors and designs that can fit into any room and is a breeze to clean. Most importantly, you are contributing to the environment.

Design Guide Editorial, Vetrazzo Recycled Glass

Vetrazzo…Environmental Award Winning Countertops | It's Our Environment

This post is back from June 4 2099 - off the EPA blog. 

Vetrazzo…Environmental Award Winning Countertops | It's Our Environment

About the author: Sara Jacobs recently celebrated her 10th year working at EPA Region 9. She has spent most of her years in the Drinking Water Office, but is currently on a detail to the Superfund Division, working with the Navajo EPA.

My two-bedroom flat in San Francisco was built in 1926 and I don’t think much has happened to the kitchen since. We still have no dishwasher or disposal and no flooring other than the sub floor since we ripped up the old stained and cracked vinyl. As we dream of some day being able to take on a kitchen remodel, we wonder how we could minimize the environmental impact of our project. Yet, we still need to stay on budget, maintain product quality, and still display our own unique style. Is this even possible?

We know that using recycled, locally manufactured, non-toxic materials are all good ideas, but where do we find these products? There is so much information to dig through on the web and as a busy, full-time working mother of two, I am just overwhelmed by the task. That’s why I was so excited when I read that one of the Pacific Southwest Environmental Award winners, Vetrazzo, takes glasses that are not recyclable elsewhere and turns them into beautiful countertops. (I can say beautiful because I saw the samples!)

Vetrazzo uses old glass from traffic lights, windshields, plate glass windows, dinnerware, stemware, laboratory glass, stained glass, and beverage bottles and transforms them into a superior green building material. In 2008, Vetrazzo transformed 650 tons of recycled glass into countertops, table tops, bar tops, fireplace hearths, shower surrounds and flooring.

Vetrazzo is made from glass processed directly from the recycler without melting. Since 2007, creation of 11,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide has been avoided by transforming recycled glass into Vetrazzo instead of new bottles or fiberglass. That is the same amount of energy saved by removing 2,125 passenger vehicles from the road for an entire year.

“Being recognized by the U.S. EPA is a tremendous honor for us,” said James Sheppard, CEO and Co-Founder of Vetrazzo, LLC. “Our product creates a focal point for green building by boldly and visually demonstrating the value of recycling. When an average kitchen counter can contain as many as 1,000 bottles, the impact of using a sustainable surfacing material is undeniable. It gets people talking.”

So now I have a solution for my counter tops. Does anyone have a suggestion for flooring?

Photo credits: ©2008 Joel Puliatti for Vetrazzo

Life Is Good With Vetrazzo!

Just "hanging out" and admiring some Palladian Gray countertops at UMI in Naples, Florida ... Life Is Good!

Millefiori - "A Thousand Flowers"

Millefiori - "A Thousand Flowers"

Millefiori .... "the sweet scent and dazzling colors of a hillside covered with wildflowers. For centuries, Italians have made glass in brilliant colors called Millefiori - "a thousand flowers." The Millefiori mix captures that beauty with salvaged glass from a renowned art glassmaker.

Millefiori gets a lot of attention in our office. Not only is it a conversation starter but it is by far the most unique colors when it comes to recycled glass counter tops. There is nothing else like it on the market. So where does it come from and why is it so unique?

The world's largest art glass manufacturer patented a production process referred to as continuous ribbon, and what we know as stained glass. It connotes colorful ribbon candy and the rainbow of colors they produce is equally astounding. Rejects or over-runs of the glass give Millefiori its full bouquet.

 

     

So sit back, close your eyes imagine a thousand flowers on a Italian hillside and enjoy the Millefiori, Vetrazzo Mixture.

 

The Granite Gurus: The Stories in Vetrazzo Surfaces

The Granite Gurus: The Stories in Vetrazzo Surfaces

The Granite Gurus is one of our favorite bloggers. They provide great info about the stone world, design and expertise. This post - is reposted from them and it is about Vetrazzo. 
The Granite Gurus: The Stories in Vetrazzo Surfaces: 

The Stories in Vetrazzo Surfaces

Vetrazzo is a collection of recycled glass and concrete slabs that can be used in almost any application where you would use granite or marble. The color palette is diverse and offers something for everyone, from  the very subtle like the Flint Glass collection to the very bold like the Millefori ...  

Millefori Vetrazzo
photo by Granite Gurus - MGS by Design

Soapstone,Vetrazzo & Elements Expert: The Granite Gurus: The Stories in Vetrazzo Surface...: 

Recycled Skyy® Vodka Bottles Emulate Water at the Parkway Hills Baptist Church.

Recycled Skyy® Vodka Bottles Emulate Water at the Parkway Hills Baptist Church.
Project: Parkway Hills Baptist Church Children's Area 
Architect: HH Architects, Dallas, Texas

Who would ever thought that "a festive evening with friends sampling savory treats and drinking top-shelf spirits poured from a lovely cobalt blue Skyy® Vodka bottle" would become the Parkway Hills Baptist Church Children's Area centerpiece? An innovated, passionate glass scientist in Berkley, CA did. More than 15 years ago he was the first to create a 100% Post Consumer Recycled Glass countertop called Vetrazzo®.  

The inspiration for  Children's Area at Parkway Hills Baptist Church was the salt water fish tank which was existing and was the idea for the "water" theme. The vision behind the design of the Check-In Desk was "stimulation" and "interactive". Using one of Vetrazzo's signature color, Colbalt Blue Skyy®; made from ACTUAL Skyy® Vodka bottles was a perfect color to emulate blue water. 

The primary color "windows" on the face of the desk are at child height so the children can touch them and reach inside them.  The fish tank adds visual interest,  and "thinking" and "seeing" stimulation. HH Architects & Nan Gammon thought the Vetrazzo counter added visual stimulation and of course color to the desk. 

Enviably, Parkway Hills Baptist Church was on budget but it was interesting when interior designer Nan told us "although we went through a number of value engineering exercises with this client, cutting the Vetrazzo counter was never approved.  The client agreed that it was the centerpiece of the Check-In Desk, and they liked that it was recycled glass".  




Project Credits  
  HH Architects: Principal -Jerry L. Halcomb
  Project Manager - Tom Willis
  Interior Designer - Nan Gammon
  Construction Administrator - Dale Smith 
  GC: Beck Group/Principal Robert Hodges  
  Project Manager - Elliot Bevers

Vetrazzo in Milan, Bangkok, Cologne, Daegu and New York!

By Melissa Hawkins, Senior Designer and Sustainability Manager

Each of us has interests that shape the perspective by which we experience the world; I experience the world through materials. I am fascinated by materials, what they are made out of, are capable of, and what opportunities they represent. This interest led me to Material Connexion.

After I first read about Material Connexion in I.D. Magazine, I knew had to get Vetrazzo accepted into this impressive library. Material Connexion is one of the world's largest innovative materials libraries with five locations throughout the world, New York, Milan, Bangkok, Cologne, and Daegu. This list made me consider becoming a librarian! This global presence helps make these unique materials accessible to a bevy of potential clients that range from Fortune 500 companies, architects, designers, to other material geeks. Access is based on an annual subscription.

The process included getting to speak with a Materials Specialist, Beatrice Ramnarine. She explained that once we submit samples they are subjected to an examination and vote by a panel of cross-discipline “creatives”. It felt like being a contestant on a reality show, I could hear Heidi Klum saying, "Either you're in or you're out." They would let us know.

It was a difficult wait but finally the day came to hear the final judgment. Naturally we made it, but even working with Vetrazzo, the most beautiful recycled glass counter top material in the world, one must be humble. Visit Material Connexion, www.materialconnexion.com, not only can you check out the fascinating world of materials, but you can also learn about trends, conferences, speakers, or become part of the Material Connexion Brain & Talent Bank.

Rosie's Girls Tour the Vetrazzo Plant

By Karen Righthand, VP of Marketing

Recently I had the opportunity to lead two factory tours to groups from Richmond’s “Rosie’s Girls” Camp. Rosie’s Girls is a three week camp for girls entering 6th-8th grades that encourages participants to develop and strengthen their capacities and confidence and helps them expand their perception of the range of educational and career options that are attainable in an atmosphere that is fun, supportive and positive. Needless to say, I was honored when the camp officials requested that I lead the tours. They want the girls to experience work environments that are somewhat non-traditional for women and to meet women in leadership roles.

Of course, the name of the camp hails from Rosie the Riveter, the fictional World War II icon who represented the women who went to work in the shipyards and factories to fill the shortages left by the men fighting overseas. When the first tour arrived and the bus doors opened I was surprised to meet two actual Rosies, women that had worked right here in Richmond. Also accompanying them were rangers from the National Park Service who are a partner in the Richmond camp and a driving force behind creation of the Rosie the Riveter Home Front National Historical Park.

The permanent home of the Rosie the Riveter museum will be here at Ford Point where the Vetrazzo factory is. It is fitting that our historic building, once the manufacturing site for Ford cars and the assembly plant for tanks and Jeeps during the war, now houses a new type of manufacturing; manufacturing of green building materials. This is what the girls came to see. Instead of blue collar jobs we are creating green collar jobs and transforming millions of pounds of local waste glass into gorgeous and green countertops.

If you read my previous blog on the Vetrazzo Victory Garden you know this was a trend during the war. As we started our tour the ranger asked if our garden could be part of the Home Front Festival coming up October 3rd where Victory Gardens will be featured. I guess I better plant some Fall veggies! I think the older Rosies were the most surprised by our product and process. One told me, “I’m really glad the glass is being kept out of the landfill and put to good use.” “We saved everything back in those days but I guess we threw away bottles.” Everyone was surprised to learn that glass doesn’t decompose in a landfill.

My dad was a WWII veteran and my mom a nurse in the Army (where she met my dad) in the Korean War so it was special for me to have these Senior Rosies in our factory and show them what we do. They made a huge contribution to the war effort and to how women are perceived today. I felt proud and hopeful to share our green technology with these promising young women who are the Rosies of tomorrow. We must do everything we can to educate, empower and support our youth. They will be in charge some day.