REMAKING ORDINARY I HAND WORK
Sinks get new look thanks to Corey Honsberger.
FROM THE LUXURIOUS lofts of New York City to the sprawling coastal ranches of southern California, decorative concrete has firmly established itself as a staple in urban chic décor.
It’s a trend that fascinates local artisan Corey Honsberger, who began experimenting with concrete décor about five years ago. Today, even his handcrafted sinks can be a piece of art, complete with fibre optics and “glow veins,” and his weekend hobby is turning into a budding home-based business.
“I don’t even remember how I first got into it, to be honest,” says Honsberger, owner of Corey’s Concrete Countertops. “I just got interested in working with concrete and it took off in a few different directions.”
After building a piece for his parents and enjoying both the process and the finished product, Honsberger began taking orders from family members and friends.
Before long, he had honed his talent and expanded his product line to include countertops and freestanding sinks. His specialty, however, remains a combination of both – one-piece vanities with the hand-crafted sink built into the countertop.
“All you have to do is add the faucet,” says Honsberger, 27.
From conceptualization to installation, Honsberger usually works closely with clients to create a piece as unique as their personal tastes.
“It’s completely customized,” Honsberger says. “I’ll get them to come up with a shape or a design and then we’ll sit down and look at the different edge patterns and the colour chart and we’ll fully customize it.”
Regardless of the design, the result is always a stylish, contemporary sink to either complement a kitchen’s décor or stand alone as the focal point of a bathroom.
But while concrete offers endless possibilities and a distinct esthetic appeal, Honsberger says its biggest benefit is durability. While it’s priced slightly higher than granite – anywhere from $65 to $130 per square foot, depending on materials and design – he says the investment is worth it.
“All my pieces are built to last,” he says. “They’ll last forever.”
Honsberger uses “green” concrete, which consists of 90 per cent recycled materials. In addition to being more eco-friendly, it is more malleable and dries faster than >>
>> regular concrete without sacrificing durability. Another way he’s putting his personal stamp on the industry is through the use of fibre optics and “glow veins.” Charged by either artificial light or solar power, glow veins are webs of LED lights arranged within the concrete to light up the surface of a piece. The glow veins come in multiple colours and, like Christmas lights, can flicker, fade or burn steady. They can even be controlled by motion or from a smartphone.
“It’s pretty unique,” says Honsberger, whose countertop in his parents’ bathroom lights up like the African sky beneath a blanket of twinkling stars.
“People are starting to do it in the States, but I haven’t really heard of anybody else doing it here.” Jarred Munro says he was looking for a one-of-a-kind vanity to complete his bathroom when a plumber recommended Honsberger. “I custom-built my entire bathroom so I wanted something completely unique to go with it,” Munro says. The finished piece is a white five-foot vanity countertop with a built-in sink and bright blue glow veins.
“It’s awesome,” he says. “It’s durable, it’s easy to clean and it looks great. Everyone who sees it comments on it.”
Honsberger’s fascination with concrete began, unassumingly, in the summer of 2008 after he constructed the initial one-piece sink for his parents. He decided to invest in his newfound interest and travelled to California to hone his skills at a Buddy Rhodes training workshop. Rhodes, along with fellow Californian Fu-Tung Cheng, is credited with spurring the popularity of decorative concrete when he cast his first countertop in the mid-’80s. Upon completion of the course, Honsberger’s passion for the art form only grew. Where others saw sidewalks and construction sites, Honsberger saw a canvas. When he returned to Waterloo, he got to work on a kitchen countertop complete with an under-mount sink and intricate backsplash as a wedding gift for his friend. Within a few months, Corey’s Concrete Countertops was born.
And while the initial demand for his services sparked Honsberger’s optimism, he quickly realized he needed a Plan B.
“It was great that first summer,” he says. “I was doing pretty good and got a lot of jobs, but then winter came and I had nothing to do.”
So he enrolled in the financial planning services program at Conestoga College and, upon graduation, found work with a national investment company. The flexible nature of the position allowed him to bring home a steady income while continuing to cultivate his craft.
With a product line ranging from custom floors and reception desks to balusters and staircases, and a marketing campaign consisting of cold calls and Kijiji ads, Honsberger’s business began to grow.
“Right now it’s still more of a hobby, but it’s starting to pick up quite a bit,” says Honsberger, who has now committed nearly 2,000 hours to concrete work. “I’d love if it turned into something more.” While he remains the operation’s only official employee and still works out of a shop in the backyard of his parents’ Waterloo home, he increasingly requires the assistance of friends and family members.
His roster of clients, which has grown to about 30, ranges from high school friends to the City of Brantford, which commissioned a colossal concrete sphere with dazzling blue glow veins for a downtown exhibit.
One of the most popular pieces this summer, Honsberger says, has been an inverted conical table which is becoming a common accoutrement south of the border. The table can either be supported by a concrete base or built into the ground to give it a floating effect.
Another concrete trend turning heads in the United States is vertical stamping. Popular for offering a wide array of textures, the technique can give the wall an appearance of everything from wood to marble.
“I think it might be the next big thing,” says Honsberger, who has ordered some product from Ohio and begun experimenting with it. “Guys are doing it for wine cellars, showers, hidden doors, stuff like that. It’s starting to become pretty popular.”
And as the industry continues to grow – both globally and locally – Honsberger hopes his business will as well. In the nottoo-distant future, he plans to open a new shop and put more hours into growing his company.
“Right now I’m trying to balance my business with my job, but I’d like to focus more on building it up,” he says. “Eventually I want to be doing something I love full time.”