Concrete Countertops Get Cooper Treatment

Cooper's Custom Surfaces, located in Cardiff-by-the-Sea (just north of San Diego), California, specializes in crafting custom, designer-grade, one-of-a-kind concrete countertops, walls, water features, fireplaces, tub surrounds, barbeques and furniture. Owner Jack Cooper, who has studied directly with Fu-Tung Cheng, honed his craft combining passion, imagination, ingenuity and expertise.

Armed with a degree in music from University of California at Santa Cruz, Cooper ventured first into flooring and tile before setting his sights on concrete. It was only when he was on a project and witnessed first hand the pouring of a cast-in-place concrete countertop that the ball really started rolling.

"I was blown away by the shapes and design possibilities," he recalls.

After asking endless questions of the countertop contractor, Cooper was finally pointed in the direction of Cheng, and he headed to meet the father of concrete countertops, first taking the "Essentials" class, which he says was a designer-friendly course.

"At that point, I had never built anything with concrete," Cooper notes. "A couple of years later, they offered the 'Advanced' course, which I took. Shortly after that, we made the switch from hardwood floors and tiles, to concrete."

Next up was a new shop in Southern California, and today Cooper's Custom Surfaces works primarily with concrete, occasionally picking up the spillover of hardwood flooring and tile work on projects.

Working mostly in high end homes, Cooper collaborates with designers and architects on a regular basis. (He says homeowners usually don't want to wait months to get on his schedule). Including San Diego, Cooper's work is found from the border up to Laguna Beach, as well as out of state in Minnesota and New Mexico.

When Cooper encounters a client unfamiliar with his work, he often brings along his handy sales tool, a blue countertop model he uses to show people concrete countertops and let them feel and touch the material. The piece has step downs in it, as well as a cutting board, and every corner has either an inlay or a quarter-round step up.

"Concrete countertops open me up to express myself," explains Cooper. "That's probably why we have designers and architects who want to work with us. We're open to exploring artistic things."

"It's all about the art work," adds Cooper of his custom countertops. "We can form and shape into whatever we want."

Such was the case for a kitchen island with a 7-degree bevel on the side, to which Cooper added brass trivets for the cleaning area. The entire island was shaped like a surf board, and he also created a unique wine color for the top, using custom pigments in the monolithic piece.

A major coup for Cooper was his chance to work on a Frank Lloyd Wright home. When the current homeowner discovered the blueprints for the home and wanted to restore it to its original grandeur, his general contractor contacted Cooper to help.

Cooper started by removing sheet rock off the walls, exposing the original block wall that had been painted several times over. Rather than create some sort of rock covering, he chose a different route.

"I'm a sustainable-type person, and I wanted to grind the paint off to get it down to a natural look," says Cooper, who polished the walls and exposed the aggregate before smoothing it. He then treated the outside of the home the same way, removing the stucco.

Next, Cooper rebuilt a portion of fireplace bench and covered it to match the existing original bench. But that, too, was no easy task.

"They were cantilevered, so we had to drill into the walls and weld rebar into the outside [of the walls]," recalls Cooper, who says he consulted with a structural engineer to ensure everything was placed properly. Then, each bench piece was brought in, at about 800 pounds each.

Originally, the blocks above the mantel were split-block masonry. Cooper says he found a few of the original blocks, but he needed many more, so he got to work making them using a polyurethane rubber mold, pouring 40 out at a time. Lastly, the blocks were set and grouted, bringing the whole fireplace area back to its original splendor.

For another client, a homeowner/ architect/ designer in San Diego's University Heights area, Cooper built a bar and wall combo that ranged from 4 inches thick at the base to 17 inches thick at the top, replete with organic curves.

Using 2-foot by 3-foot by 8-foot blocks of Styrofoam, Cooper shaped the bar top, taking care to maintain an organic feel throughout the process. To get the effect of lava for the wall, he says he barely vibrated the concrete to fill the form.

The wood top was made by a cabinet maker Cooper works with, and the countertop featured a recessed fruit bowl and cutting board for the prep sink. The two pieces that made up the top weighed in at 900 pounds each, and Cooper used a serpentine curve for the seam of the countertop.

For another countertop, which won the Circle of Distinction award at the 2006 World of Concrete, Cooper relied on aluminum to shore up the countertop when the owners said they didn't want cantilevered support.

"We used aluminum for support, and because it's light weight," explains Cooper of the inlaid ½-inch aluminum brackets he added to the poured concrete wall supporting the countertop.

The top, about 12 feet plus 4 feet around the corner, was connected by a serpentine curve to lock the pieces together, as well as "dog bone locks" (recessed bolts). The project, which was one of 10 chosen out of over 200 entries, also featured over 200 pieces of abalone, which were used to design a nautilus symbol on the wall.

With the end goal being a fine piece of art work, Cooper concludes, "You can dial in anything in the house if you have the time and the budget. Instead of buying art work, you can create art right in the home with decorative concrete."

Cooper's Custom Surfaces
Jack Cooper
2547 Ocean Cove Dr
Cardiff, CA 92007
(760) 579-9090 Office
(760) 633-1022 Fax

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