Materials+Methods

BY RAEANNE MARSH

PHOTOGRAPH BY SCOTT SANDLER

>>> 7th Avenue Designs, Phoenix, Arizona

7th Avenue Designs' water jet services include hundreds of stock designs for stone, plus custom capability.

The artistic potential of the industrial water jet was immediately apparent to Angela Saban, co-owner with husband Charlie of Saban Tile Contracting in Phoenix, when she first saw one demonstrated approximately 10 years ago. "It was being used for countertops, but I had other intentions when I saw what it could do," she relates. They purchased the water jet equipment and established 7th Avenue Designs as a sister company to Saban Tile Contracting, the name serving to emphasize the creative element the company offered in addition to fabrication.

Using a CAD program, the water jet cuts stone to exact dimensions and creates intricate decorative patterns such as medallions and borders. The stone is subjected to neither heat nor pressure. Garnet is added to the water as the cutting abrasive, in amounts carefully adjusted for the specific stone.

Three hundred stock designs serve as a jumping-off point for individual projects. At its 10,000-square-foot facility in north Phoenix, the business stocks 30 colors of stone. But if a client wants something a little less bright, a little less dull, a little less red, Saban will shop for the exact color.

With 17 years' experience in the business, Saban looks at much more than color when choosing stone. "You have to know how it will react to what you're doing to it," she notes. This requires a knowledge of the minerals of which it is composed, as well as of its hardness. Imperfections in travertine, for instance, could leave an unwanted hole or cause the stone to explode. Considerations of installation and usage are also important, Saban notes, pointing out that not all materials can withstand the scrubbing necessary to be maintained as flooring or in swimming pools.

Having been frustrated with the limited options available to her when she built a custom home a few years previously ("We had the same choices as someone buying a production home"), Saban was motivated to provide in hard surfaces the same infinite choices homeowners enjoyed in fabrics and furniture. "They had a lot of materials to choose from, but not designs. If they loved a pattern but wanted it bigger or a different color, that wasn't a possibility. My goal was to make it a possibility and have it [done] in a certain amount of time," she says.

One of Saban's first projects with the new water jet was for a Bank of America office in downtown Phoenix, and the process is used a lot in commercial applications, such as signage. "It took a lot of time to trickle into residential," Saban shares. The last five years have seen heavy residential demand. "Now, it's 75 percent of our business."

Saban's equipment can handle everything from small tiles to slab granite. Designs can be intricately detailed or simple; since the work is priced per inch of cut, there is leeway to adjust a design for budget considerations by simplifying it but still giving the homeowners "their" design.

On a granite surface ("One of the flattest surfaces you can get," explains Saban) and using a hardwood jig (metal for stock designs) as a frame, designs are assembled upside down so that the surface will be flat no matter what differences there may be in the thickness of materials. Large designs are assembled in smaller sections that an installer can handle easily, following the pattern itself so the seams are a natural part of the pattern.

Leftover pieces of stone are tumbled and recycled as rubble — available in any combination of materials and any size pieces — and mesh-mounted for use.

With three water jets and six experienced employees, 7th Avenue Designs produces custom designs in two weeks. The company works primarily with interior designers, and ships nationwide. Local clients may pick up parts of a project as they are ready, if they wish, rather than waiting until the entire order is completed.

Onyx — in whites, yellows, greens and reds — has become very popular. And Saban is excited about her recent addition of glass, in iridescent colors, to the catalog of materials. It will require intricate designs because the glass tiles are only five inches square. Fiber optics have also brought new possibilities to hard-surface designs, with the element of backlighting.

"If I have the ability to provide something that's not 'out there,' that's what I want to do," Saban enthuses. "Create something that you haven't seen before, and put it together so it's you."

7th Avenue Designs, 21421 N. Seventh Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85027; (623) 581-1531 or www.wavewaterjet.com.