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Concrete Decor - Concrete Decor Magazine, The Journal for Decorative Concrete - Index

Work was steady but not very
stimulating, he admits. He began to
hear rumblings about something called
“decorative concrete,” although no one he
knew was doing it. Then came the postcard.
Someone was offering a two-day class in
nearby Columbus. He signed up.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,”
he remembers about that fateful class. “Right
then and there, my interest in concrete work
was right back to what it was when I was a
kid.” He sought out suppliers and entered
the decorative arena full throttle.
By the late 1990s, his business had
largely shifted from masonry restoration to
54 | www.ConcreteDecor.net | Dec. ’07/Jan. ’08
decorative concrete. In 2000, he changed
the name of his company to Cutting Edge
Decorative Concrete. “It’s important to have
the right name,” he says.
The here and now
Today, Cutting Edge employs between
five and seven employees, and the company’s
handiwork stretches beyond the borders
of Ohio. Its services include concrete
countertops, stamped concrete, illusional
concrete art, water features, acid staining,
resurfacing and stenciling, patios and pool
decks, outdoor fireplaces, basement floors
and Illumi-Crete, Mata’s trademarked name
for the company’s fiber-optics features.
“Outdoor entertainment areas are
probably our specialty,” he says. “I like to put
together big components to accomplish the
ultimate wow factor.”
Case in point: One of his latest projects
involved a family who has a timeshare
in Hawaii. While there, they can see the
beaches of Diamond Head. They wanted
a similar view simulated at their Ohio
homestead.
Alongside stamped concrete, Mata
created an area that looks like a cliff
overlooking the ocean at Diamond Head.
There are fire dancers on the beach, juggling