Concrete Decor - Index

Concrete Decor - Concrete Decor - April Newsletter - 2008 - Index

reinforced concrete and embedding
materials such as fossils, iron inlays, fruit
bowls, drain boards, glass, rocks, shells,
coins, wine bottles and personal mementos,
J&M has lent character to historic and
modern homes, restaurants, bars and other
businesses on the East Coast for two years.
“We are constantly evolving and pushing
the limits of the material to accommodate
new and abstract ambitions of the client that
drive our creative talents,” Radley explains.
“The ambition behind the company is to
create things that have never been done
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before and make use of other material to
highlight concrete.”
Such was the case with a recent kitchen
countertop project, which exemplifies
J&M’s creative use of color and inlays.
The end result didn’t just please the clients
— it grabbed the attention of Cheng Design
Exchange judges for the 2008 Members’
Circle of Distinction Design Challenge at
the World Of Concrete in Vegas, where the
company took home the Best Decorative
Finish award. Another J&M show-stopper
was a wine bar with an embedded fiber-
optic bottle chiller. The playful yet functional
design garnered an honorable mention.
The awards may serve as an indication of
the company’s ability, but the proof is in the
diverse body of its work, which can often
be classified as functional art. “Concrete
is durable and design-specific and has
many uses,” Radley says. “We bring it to
a functional art form, and the medium not
only gives you the ability to make things
that are artistic, inanimate objects like a
painting or sculpture, but also gives you the
ability to make things useful and functional.”