Description

In a former marine machinists’ shop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 3,000-pound bags of optically sorted, crushed, colored recycled glass are stacked three high in the sky-lit interior. They await processing into IceStone, a polished, arresting, terrazzolike surface of chipped colored glass in a cement matrix. The current owners, Brooklyn natives and self-described "social entrepreneurs" Peter Strugatz and Miranda Magagnini, had a kindred vision of a hometown green business and bought the assets of the company at auction. Since its relaunch in 2003, the partners have systematically improved the product--building its strength and reducing porosity using a zealously guarded secret process (wouldn’t DuPont like to know?). IceStone can now be shaped, water-jet cut, inlaid, variously edged and custom-colored with striking results. Working with industrial design interns from nearby Pratt Institute, the pair have also refined the product palette, adjusting and exploring color ratios, adding pigment to the matrix and, lately, pearlescent shell. IceStone can be mounted vertically, but is most often used for kitchens and bathrooms: Artist/architect Maya Lin specified IceStone for counters in the heralded Greyston Bakery. (via Elements of Living)

Updated Apr 5, 2006