I + D - March/April 2021 - 48

Sustainable Surfaces
When asked what high-tech developments are going on at
Concrete Collaborative, partner and creative director Kate
Balsis laughs. " We're pretty low-tech, " she admits. But
for her hard-surface company, that's a selling point, not a
drawback. " We are purists with the ingredients, we produce
everything in small batches, and we're very much about the
craftsmanship in making it. "
The focus on simplicity has enabled Concrete Collaborative
to operate sustainably, right from its founding more than
15 years ago. " For us, it's always been integral, " explains
Balsis. She owns the company along with her two sisters
and two of their husbands. The sisters are from Australia,
where environmental responsibility and sustainable practices
are ingrained into architecture and design. Among the green
processes at their emissions-free manufacturing facility
are reusing all the water used in production, recycling all
concrete waste, and even selling broken slabs rather than
throwing them away. " People love them, " Balsis says of the
slabs. " They use them for all sorts of different applications. "

The Concrete Collaborative Team:
Sally Smithwick, Kate Balsis, Chad Balsis,
Hailey Weller, and Ryan Weller.

Low-tech or not, the company is known for innovating
on the design front. Concrete Collaborative has quickly
become a darling in the design world for its unique
alternatives to quartz and ceramic: poured concrete that's
anything but boring and uber-industrial.
" It's definitely evolved, " Balsis says of the company's design
offerings. " We started with grey, black and white, neutral
concrete, and large format tiles. But it's taken on a life of
its own and evolved into a lot of texture, pattern, and color
play. There's a lot more risk-taking going on these days. "
For instance, the company's Alabaster Mix Chip
countertop, which has aggregates of pink, white, and gold,
" has tons of contrast and movement, " according to Balsis,
who adds, " It's such an individual look. "
The manufacturer is also playing with design elements rooted
in recent history, such as the mustards and greens of the 1970s
and the natural materials and simple lines of the Midcentury
Modern movement. And with concrete's durability, the
company's products often find their way outside, from
rooftop bars to outdoor kitchens, to pavers on a patio.
Coming off 2020, Balsis says Concrete Collaborative has
worked hard to keep innovating and developing, designwise. One of last year's big hits was its retro-inspired
Breeze Block line, often used delineating spaces both
inside and out. They've also been hard at work partnering
with big names in design to create encaustic patterned tile
collections, making good on the promise of their name.
Recent collections include partnerships with the magazine
Dwell, multidisciplinary designers Sarah Sherman Samuel
and Alex Proba, and interior designer Natalie Myers.

Concrete Collaborative's
Breeze Blocks have become
a favorite design element for
indoor and outdoor spaces
alike, such as this pool space
designed by And And And
Studio using Trestles Breeze
Block Circle Ivory.
(Image: James Elliot Bailey)

This sunken bar area by designer Amy
Tangerine and Dan Brunn Architecture
incorporates a backsplash in Strands SSS
x Concrete Collaborative in Millennial
Pink with white ivory lines, and Pacifica
concrete terrazzo slabs.
(Image: Amy Tangerine)

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