Eco-Friendly Concrete Countertops, Sinks, Furniture and Art

Hello,

I wanted to introduce my company and myself. My name is Brandon Gore, and my company is gore design co., located in Tempe, AZ.

I started this company because of my strong interest in eco-friendly home building techniques, materials and technologies.

Just to briefly describe our services: We specialize in the design, creation and installation of exceptional eco-friendly concrete countertops, sinks, tubs, tile, furniture and art.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about concrete, whether it is a do-it-yourself project, or a project you are interested in having us do. Feel free to call me at 480.209.4241, or drop me an email at brandon@goredesignco.com

I saw this interesting material made from recycled paper on treehugger.com

http://www.shetkastone.com/

They show it being used for tabletops, countertops, doors, any panel type application. They are showing lots of different funky colors.

Brandon do you have a website? We are not ready to do anything now but I would like to keep you in mind and add it to my favorites.

Find him here smit:

http://www.goredesignco.com/

Hello Greg and Smit,

Greg, thank you for the product info, my solid-surface associate just received samples of it and we are working on a collaborative design. Smit, thank you for your interest. Please check my website often, as I will be making major changes including the addition of an online store. I am also contemplating developing and offering a modular concrete countertop system that will offer many different components, designs, colors and finishes.

Happy Holidays,

Brandon

how is your concrete eco-friendly?

Hello Matt,

Concrete itself is widely considered as an eco-friendly alternative to most common materials used for countertops. In addition to the eco-friendly aspect of the base material, we further enhance it's green qualities by mixing in reclaimed materials such as stainless steel, titanium and glass. I aggresively seek out materials that would have otherwise gone into landfills and try to incorporate them into my designs. This not only helps the environment, but it also enhances the artistic characteristics of the piece.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Happy Holidays,

Brandon J. Gore
http://www.goredesignco.com

Your site also said something about how you handle the water required for finishing, etc - no?

I thought that Gore was doing something special to his concrete counters to make them be more enviromentally friendly than other concrete counters, not just less bad than a synthetic like Corian. I was expecting some change in the cement mix, for example, beyond seeding the aggregate with reclaimed materials, to make the overall process more eco-friendly.

I think honing the concrete faces is a cool, visual effect, but it is an extra step, extra energy and resources.

For eco-friendly countertops, check out:

www.syndesisinc.com

for 'syndecrete' or

www.environmentalhomecenter.com/shop.mv?CatCode=PRODUCTProdCode=COMPCOUNTER

for 'paperstone'

Matt

Hello Matt,

Please allow me to describe in greater detail why my products are environmentally responsible:

• We use a special concrete mix that is composed entirely of cement, sand and binders. I truly believe there is not another material more green than our concrete mix for countertops.
• Reclaimed materials are added to further increase the eco-friendliness of the material.
• We reclaim, re-use or recycle everything. I have made being an environmentally responsible company my primary focus.
• All of the water used is filtered to remove any particulates. In actuality, we use very little water. The drier concrete is when mixed, the stronger it will be. The amount of water used to polish the pieces is also a small amount. I assure you we use much less water than what is used in the production of granite, marble or Corian.

Concrete is considered by most, if not all green councils to be the most eco-friendly alternative. The paperstone products and recycled solid surface products use caustic chemicals and produce hazardous waste in their production process. Many of the recycled solid surface materials being touted as green are in my opinion, not green. The material they are recycling are broken pieces from damaged sheets of their own product (i.e. Avonite accidentally breaks a sheet of their material, they grind it up, mix it back in, and say they have a green product because it is recycled).

We carefully designed our studio so as to reduce waste, increase efficiency and to reclaim or recycle everything that we could. We print all of our materials with soy inks on 100% post consumer recycled paper. We use a top-quality concrete mix to which we incorporate reclaimed materials, making our countertops an absolutely true green product.

Being eco-friendly is not just something we say to sell our products. It's who we are.

Happy Holidays,

Brandon J. Gore
brandon@goredesignco.com

Brandon

I was wondering whether you were using fly-ash/kiln dust mixes instead of Portland cement, etc...

Anyway, I was also excited about squak mountain stone which is about 65% recycled material (marble/granite dust from a local headstone manufacturer, and mixed waste paper fiber) Their website is bad, but I have seen and touched the product and it is pretty intiquing. it looks like it was used in one of the Glidehouses as well.

www.tmi-online.com/SMS-Index.htm

Apparently, they are also working on another product using 100% recycled aggregate from glass.

Just a note to anyone who may be in the Phoenix, AZ area. Please feel free to come by and see some of our designs at the Phoenix Home and Garden Show (Jan 14th-16th). The Home Show is being held at the Arizona Fair Grounds. Our booth will be under the name of g|g design studio. g|g design studio is a collaborative project between my company, a solid surface company and an industrial design firm that is conceptualizing many of our furniture designs.++++ We will also have a booth at the Scottsdale Home Show in February. We would love to meet you, so please come by and say hi.