25 Years of Grand Entrances
How Creative Edge Master Shop Spearheaded a Renaissance in Floor Design
(Hover over photos to see captions)
In the history of architectural floor design, 1988 was a big year. That was the year that Finnish sculptor and fine artist Harri Aalto was struck by an insight that helped change the way we think about—and create—decorative art for stone floors, walls and hotel lobbies.
It all started with a duck.
“A friend of mine handed me the cutout of a duck that had been cut from two-inch thick marble using waterjet technology,” says Aalto. “It was astounding to see the curved edges carved from brittle stone. I had a startling moment of insight, and realized how important this new technology, which was used exclusively for industrial purposes at that time, would be for artistry and design.”
He teamed up with Jim Belilove, a Harvard-trained businessman with a background in manufacturing, to found Creative Edge Master Shop in Fairfield, Iowa. Aalto started designing intricate inlaid medallions, custom art murals, and artistic borders for floors and walls—all made possible by waterjet technology. Some of his most elaborate designs involving 30 colors of marble and thousands of separate pieces cut from stone.
“In the early years, before the capabilities of waterjet were widely known, part of our job was convincing people that our intricate medallions and borders were real,” says Belilove. “They couldn’t believe that designs so refined could be made out of stone.”
To win the trust of architects, the company first sought out high-profile projects such as the world map at the Denver Airport, the Astronaut Memorial at Kennedy Space Center, and the entryway to Disney World in Florida.
It wasn’t long before hospitality designers started calling. Now Creative Edge’s award-winning designs grace hotel lobbies around the world.
Combining Artistic Passion, Old world Craftsmanship and New Technology
After twenty-five years, Creative Edge is not only the oldest, but the largest and most experienced waterjet designer and fabricator in the United States, having created over 10,000 floor and wall projects from the U.S. to Shanghai.
At the heart of the company’s success is its commitment to using waterjet technology to create fine art. To maintain his artistic vision, Harri Aalto not only became a partner in Creative Edge, but also founded a sister company, Aalto Design. The two companies work hand-in-hand.
“What sets us apart from other waterjet fabricators is that we’re inundated by artists,” says Aalto. “Usually manufacturing businesses don’t have artists; they have either engineers or businessmen. At Creative Age, at every step of the process there is some artistic eye.”
While Harri Aalto is the president of Aalto Design and for many years the principal designer, his talented family members also design for the company. Harri met his wife, Cathy, in high school while attending a commercial art program at Northern Secondary School, and together they studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. Trained as an illustrator, Catherine likes to tell a story and is behind many of the stunning custom floor murals that Creative Edge specializes in.
If Harri is the fine artist and Cathy the illustrator, the Aalto’s eldest daughter, Annie, 33, a graduate of Savannah School of Art and Design, is the designer of the family.
“Annie hasn’t been in this business as long as me, but, on the other hand, she’s been working at Creative Edge from the start,” says Aalto. “As a teenager she helped with every stage of production. She got involved in doing line drawings, designed some of the products, basically worked with me as my apprentice.”
Annie has won acclaim for her contemporary, whole-floor lobby designs, and her design for the lobby floor of the Shanghai Renaissance Putuo won the Marble Institute of America Pinnacle Award of Merit for Commercial Interiors in 2013. Equally at home with the traditional look that Aalto Design is famous for, she has re-envisioned some of Harri’s exquisite and intricate filigree floor designs with a contemporary flair.
Karim Merali, a hotel owner who commissioned Creative Edge to design his hotel lobby floor says the two sister companies are successful for three key reasons. “Harri and his family of artists have a real passion for what they design,” he says. “Creative Edge Master Shop has the technical skill in waterjet fabrication to make it happen and the refined craftsmanship to execute the designs. You need those three things—artistic vision, old-world craftsmanship, and technical knowledge—to make a thing of beauty.”
Merali should know, as the inspired designs of Creative Edge transformed his hotel into a tourist attraction in Rapid City, South Dakota. Here is his story and the story of four other hotel lobbies that were enhanced by the art of Creative Edge and Aalto Design.
Adoba Eco Hotel, South Dakota
Karim Merali had recently purchased a Radisson hotel (converted to the Adoba Eco in 2011) in Rapid City, the home of Mt. Rushmore, and he was planning a remodel.
He commissioned Aalto Design to design and Creative Edge to fabricate multiple floor and wall murals, elevator landings and countertops as part of an integrated Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore theme throughout the hotel.
The Mt. Rushmore floor medallion, embedded in a sweeping feather design that evokes the Native American heritage of the area and stretches across the entire lobby in thirty-six colors of inlaid stone slab and tile, makes a stunning visual impact on the visitor, to say the least.
“At the time it was considered the world’s most advanced marble floor in history.” says Merali. The lobby floor attracted huge press coverage and won the Radisson President’s Award six years in a row.
“Harri’s artistry brings the Black Hills into the hotel,” says Merali. “The stone floors and wall murals are so artistically and ingeniously designed that the guests learn about the attractions of the area— Mt. Rushmore, Native American artifacts, natural landmarks.”
Renaissance Shanghai Putuo
For this 2010 hotel in Shanghai’s upscale Putuo district, VOA Associates designed a contemporary interior that incorporated a unique wind-pattern theme with a Tornado Bar and a swirling ceiling fixture.
The custom floor design was to follow the curving lines of the ceiling fixture—not only to further the wind-motion theme—but to direct the flow of traffic from the hotel’s lobby to the reception desk and from there to guest rooms onto the bar and seating areas.
Ming Jie Real Estate, the owner of the project, determined early on that waterjet technology was the only way to achieve the long curves they envisioned. They contacted Creative Edge through their partners in Shanghai, Hawei Perrett of FNW Co.
“VOA asked us to create a design to coordinate with the interior but not take away from the very modern, streamlined contemporary look,” says Annie Aalto. “They wanted a warm but muted color palate, staying contemporary but still understated.”
Annie made the lines of even thickness as they curve and swirl across the floor, giving it a more controlled, reserved, almost mathematical feeling. She also ended each curve with a flat end to make it look less organic. The result was a stunning whole-floor design that sweeps like the wind across the massive lobby.
“Ming Jie and VOA immediately liked the design concept,” says Annie. “The challenge was placing the patterns. Being steeped in the Chinese tradition of feng sui, the Chinese owners were sensitive to the location, the movement of the floor designs in relation to the lobby space.”
Rivers Casino
Located in Pittsburgh’s newly revived riverfront, this 2009 showpiece features an undulating glass façade that curves with the contour of the river’s edge and takes advantage of panoramic river views, the downtown skyline, and natural light.
Aalto Design was commissioned by Cleo Design of Las Vegas, and Annie Aalto took on the project. “They wanted a whole-floor design with a free-form, contemporary feel in flamboyant red and gold,” says Annie.
The result is warm, playful and celebratory as flowing ribbons of stone dance beneath The Drum, a two-story circular chandelier above the gaming floor, echoing its circular shape in vibrant Indus Gold and Red Onyx on a glowing Jerusalem Gold field of 12 x 12 marble tile.
“The design is punctuated by tiny dots of inlaid stainless steel scattered throughout the floor, a design element that waterjet technology makes possible,” said said Annie.
The Four Seasons at Westlake Village, California
Although she has won acclaim for whole-floor contemporary design, Annie Aalto is equally at home with the company’s signature medallions and intricately lavish floor designs.
“WATG, the hotel’s designers, specified three of our medallions in custom colors: a 20-foot Capri medallion in the entry, the Genoa in the pre-function, and the Classic in the rotunda,” says Annie. “I customized the colors to match their their colorboards, color swatches and wall and wood finishes.”
Since the owner was an orchid grower, Aalto was asked to design a custom orchid medallion. Aalto, who majored in jewelry design, says that designing medallions is a bit like designing jewelry for floors.
What’s interesting about floors, she notes, is that they are permanent. “A beautiful floor lasts through other remodels,” says Aalto. “So you have to take that into consideration, to create a design that is timeless.”
“A decorative floor is unexpected, not the place you expect to see ornamentation,” says Annie Aalto. “But the way the whole hospitality industry is going, we can expect to see a lot more ornamentation on all the different surfaces in the future.”
Looking back on 25 years of waterjet design and fabrication, Harri Aalto says, “We defined a genre and spearheaded the use of inlaid stone in floors. Who would even think of creating floors like this except during the Renaissance?”
For more information, contact Creative Edge, 601 S. 23rd Street, Fairfield, Iowa 52556, Visit the web at: www.cec-waterjet.com, or call 888-383-2112.