Laser Etching: Design

  
EXPANDED HORIZONS
   DecoGranites Inc., based in the Town of Half Moon, N.Y., has its history rooted in stone countertop work. However, DecoGranites decided to branch out and use laser etching to grow its business in response to a loss of countertop business, due in part to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
   DecoGranites deals with large pieces of stone on its CamTech unit and tends to stick with black granite. Owner Venu M. Reddy says that beyond the business growth in divergent areas of the stone business the laser brought to the fore; it also helped revive the countertop business.
   "We took the machine to the (New York) Home Show and it really drummed up our countertop business because the crowds came over to check out the laser," says Reddy. "Sometimes people think it's something manufactured somewhere, rather than laser-etched in-house."
   DecoGranites utilizes laser etching on a lot of different applications, including giant memorials and donor walls, signage, corporate gifts, family portraits, backsplashes and other kitchen and bath décor, and coffee and dining tabletops, among others.
   Laser etching has also offered the company more turnkey projects. For instance, Reddy says that in addition to providing the decorative and signage stonework for an upscale restaurant, the company can etch the restaurant's stone wine chillers and other useful/decorative items.
   But, the largest chunk of DecoGranites' laser-etching business is memorials and donor walls for hospitals and other private and public institutions.
   "There are a lot of memorials we're working on where the architects didn't at first know about or consider the possibilities of laser etching," says Reddy. "It's perfect for text purposes in particular, because you can go to any font at any size. With sandblasting you have to stay with certain fonts and sizes."
  
MONUMENTS AND MORE
   Jim Smith, owner of Laser Imaging & Design Inc. in Lebanon, Ohio, is also closely tied to the monument business, serving about 15 regional monument companies with laser etching services, mostly on black granite.
   Smith says his company is doing about 80 percent monument and memorial work, though that number will decrease as the company expands into other commercial applications, such as public art and signage.
   Case in point is an upcoming music-store job – the company's second such project – that will feature etched renditions of guitars, drums and other instruments.
   Smith says he'll be utilizing granite veneer panels. The panels are produced in 4’ X 8’ sheets and consist of an 1/8" slice of granite adhered to a honeycombed fiberglass backing, which is then backed up with aluminum. Smith says it's 70-percent-lighter than granite and three times stronger.
   Smith runs a Vytek MLS-4496, and is preparing to run what he says is the largest known laser-etched project ever attempted – a war memorial for the city of Middletown, Ohio, using 49 1/2 tons of granite.
   The memorial will depict a timeline beginning with the Revolutionary War that will run a total of 57’ X 8’ and 6” thick. It will be made out of 16 individual panels, each laid at a 3° angle so that it will "encompass" viewers.
   Though memorials are the company's bread-and-butter, Laser Imaging is spreading the word through such venues as the upcoming Greater Cincinnati Kitchen, Bath & Design Show, and other home shows.
   "With this machine we can do so much. We've done everything from solid granite backsplashes to huge window etchings behind restaurant bars, edge-lit acrylic, glass etchings, floor murals and wall murals… the applications are endless," says Smith. "But until you can get the exposure, you're not going to be able to sell a lot of it, and that's been one of the roadblocks."
   Jerry Shapiro of JP Company in South El Monte, Calif., believes it’s mainly a matter of educating his customers on the laser’s capabilities. The owner of a 75-watt Epilog with a 32” table, says in the four years he’s had his machines (he upgraded last year) he’s seen demand for his work on a variety of black granite tile sizes grow considerably.
   “We educate customers on this and they look at us kind of stunned,” Shapiro says. “Often the attitude is, ‘You can do that?’”
   Even so, he says he often notices people trying to scratch what they assume to be paint off the stone’s surface.
   While Shapiro likes to do consumer products – such as chessboards – with his machine, he says the money seems to be in wall murals, plaques and signage. One of his favorite jobs was cutting stone blanks to appear like open books for a Southern California municipality. Digital photos were taken of important structures and locations in the community, then etched onto one side of the open pages. The facing “page” contained the important information about each location.
   “The biggest thing, though, is making people aware of this,” he says. “There are a lot of people out there who laser on other materials, but not too many of them do it on stone.”
  
GETTING KNOWN
   Shannon Paxton, director of sales & marketing for Stanstead, Quebec-based Picture This on Granite, has duly noted the roadblock, and says that though kitchen and bath is a hot market for laser etching, it's a relative unknown among designers, architects and the general public.
   Picture This runs a CamTech, focusing primarily on custom commercial applications with some monument work. Like many companies that laser-etch stone, Picture This applies color to a significant amount of work, using in-house artists to hand-paint the images. The look of painted granite is quite popular and raises the value of the work.
   Paxton says the company recently completed seven large panels for the Boy Scouts of America. This type of work – corporate and organizational decorative and recognition panels – represents the upward trend for the company. As mentioned earlier, portraits and wildlife lines or other themes are also popular items.
   In the future, for all laser-etching companies, the trick will be getting the word out. Perhaps one avenue would be to flood the various home décor shows – such as Trading Spaces (on TLC), Designer's Challenge (HGTV) and the syndicated Bob Villa's Home Again – with brochures, photos and samples.
   It's a process, says Paxton, which needs to be seen to be believed. And, the applications can run far beyond the home décor and monument markets to just about any project that utilizes stonework.
  
LIGHT ON PRODUCTION
   Though most companies that employ laser etching for their stonework run some lighter stones through their laser workflow, the vast majority is etched in absolute black granite, with black marble running a distant second.
   There's at least one company, however, that turns the tables. Running an 18" x 36" Universal Laser table, Nelson Londono, owner of Artsaics in Deer Park, N.Y., works almost exclusively with lighter stones, particularly Botticino and Thassos marbles.
   The bulk of Artsaics’ business is in more traditional stonework – like large murals and mosaics – but since the introduction of the laser about eight months ago, laser etching has grown to be about 30 percent of its business.
   Artsaics created a line of decorative insets and borders called Bordo Antico. After the pattern is etched into the stone, it's stained with an oil-based pigment. The etching opens up the pores in the stone, and the stain is only absorbed in the area that's etched.
   Artsaics offers a number of different patterns in about ten monochromatic colors – greens, blues, browns and grays. Londono says it's only suitable for walls, and is usually used for residential applications. Primary customers for Artsaics’ Bordo Antico line include tile stores, showrooms and wholesalers, as well as architects, designers and private homeowners.
   "We've been in the industry for a while now, and we were looking for something more detailed than the sandblasted designs. With these machines you can get very fine detail work – very ornate – and we wanted to offer that," says Londono. "We introduced it this year at Coverings, and the reaction from most people was more than what we expected. Everyone loved it – the whole line and concept."
   Regan D. Dickinson is a writer and editor, with an extensive background in covering industrial-graphics topics.

This article first appeared in the November 2003 print edition of Stone Business. ©2003 Western Business Media Inc.