Customized Concrete Sets Florida's Elton John Design Studios Apart

Juliet Farmer,ConcreteNetwork.Com Columnist

Other than the name, Elton John Strawderman and that other famous Elton John have two major things in common: they're both passionate about what they do, and both men are artisans in every sense of the word.

Strawderman, who owns Elton John Design Studios in Bradenton, Florida, got his start in decorative concrete with stamping and stenciling, but he always thought there had to be more.

"I was doing a lot of stamped, but it wasn't doing anything for me," he recalls. "I wanted a way to express the crazy thoughts in my mind."

Enter Victor Pachade at Colormaker Floors Ltd. in Richmond, British Columbia. Both Victor and Colormaker owner Gary Jones helped Strawderman take it up a notch (or nine or 10).

"I started working with Gary and Victor, and I was excited to be able to do cool stuff on concrete," says Strawderman, "I traveled with them and helped with jobs to learn."

In fact, he credits Gary and Victor with much of the success of Elton John Design Studios, adding, "They helped me get where I am now, and they spent a lot of time with me—we also became friends...Victor and Gary were a major part of my transition from decorative concrete to artisan."

Although Strawderman has used many materials over the years, he says Colormaker's "are the best" and help provide him a canvas to work on, one that has strayed from stamped and stenciled concrete.

Today, Strawderman's portfolio is comprised of almost all interior work, about 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial. Although they do exterior "if it's an unusual project," Elton John Design Studios focus is on interior custom design work.

And because concrete applications are growing in popularity in Florida, Strawderman is not lacking in work—he says he's even had to turn work away.

That in itself would please most contractors, but Strawderman says what really excites him is having free rein to bring a project from concept to fruition. Although his clients have seen acid stained concrete, he adds that they soon realize that his work is beyond that.

Most of his clients let Strawderman take the creative reins, only guiding the artistic process with particular color choices. And from homeowners, to builders, to architects, they are almost always looking for something outside the box, something that captures the imagination—that "wow" factor.

For example, when Strawderman was recently called to a $5 million home in an exclusive area in Florida, the owners said they were either going to use marble or Elton John Design Studios' work.

"After I met with them, they trusted me to create art," explains Strawderman, who says he used four stages of integral grays on the floor, which at first glace resembles marble.

When the owner of the upscale pet boutique Petropolis in Sarasota, Florida, contacted Elton John Design Studios, Strawderman took it upon himself to go above and beyond. He cut designs into the floor and used Colormaker's blue and yellow integral coloring to make a path leading to the register "to guide customers in that direction."

"They left me alone to do my thing, and when they came back they were amazed," Strawderman laughs.

And for a friend's condominium in Charlotte, North Carolina, Strawderman spent a whole week just grinding the floor and cleaning it up before self leveling it. He then used Colormaker's Sgraffino and created a design he says he saw in his mind.

"It's abstract and different, and I sprayed away and used Colormaker patina stains to create it," he notes, adding that the floor was pictured on the front page of a local design magazine, and after that he received 162 inquiries.

In fact, Elton John Design Studios receives most of their work via word of mouth, such as the local penthouse that's being done because the owner saw his downstairs neighbor's floor that Strawderman had done in browns and turquoise before using water to create a splash pattern.

For this particular penthouse, which overlooks the whole city, Strawderman took four colors (mango, dark walnut, light walnut and beige) and turbo rolled them onto the floor before troweling the colors into each other to create a mottled effect.

It's that kind of vision that's led to work on a huge high-rise complex in Palmetto, Florida. The job, over two acres of concrete, includes a pool deck and walkways, for which Strawderman says he's been given free rein.

"I never know what I'm going to do until I get on the job site," explains Strawderman of his approach. "Sometimes I draw designs out beforehand, but I don't use them...Often I don't know what I'm going to do until I start laying materials."

Although the company receives calls from across the country, Strawderman, an avid family man, says he prefers to stay within a 50-mile radius of his office, with an occasional jaunt to South Beach when it's called for.

"But we'll go anywhere if the job is big enough," he laughs, adding that Atlanta, Georgia, and Barbados are two destinations he'll be hitting soon for jobs.

With a clientele that's mostly in their 30s and 40s, Strawderman observes that "people are getting away from the status quo, seeing what we do is just as nice as marble but completely different."

Adding that he sorts through his calls to weed out those looking for customized work, those looking for a piece of art, Strawderman says, "For my clients, money's not an issue...especially if they're looking for a customized floor no one else can get. What I'm putting down no one else can get or duplicate (not even me)."

"I tell them I don't do the typical acid stain they're seeing," he concludes. "I'm more artisan than decorative concrete guy."

Elton John Design Studios
Elton John Strawderman
6116 46th Ln E
Bradenton, FL 34203
(941) 779-4000 Office
Send Mail Now - Click Here
http://www.eltonjohndesigns.com

Visit the Elton John Designs Studio web site

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