Page 8 - Flooring Specialist Winter 2022

Working Outside the Norm

By Ken Ballin, CFI #13604, CTI #1392
PROJECT
PROFILE

rom a young age I’ve always found myself attracted to used to get phone calls from people looking for cheaper
things a little outside the norm. Rock and reggae music prices than my so-called competition. Now I get phone
Finstead of pop, x games over the super bowl, and a calls from people who have seen my work and aren’t even
Picasso over a portrait any day of the week. Picasso, now considering “the competition”. That’s such a funny word to
that’s my kind of guy, maybe not as far as his personal life me now, mostly because I don’t have competition. None of
is concerned, but his professional prowess on the canvas us do really. We are all part of an industry, a network if you
cannot be contested. The cubist images have always taken will, where we have the opportunity to step up and show off
up real estate in mind because they were different than our craft to the world or sit idle while progression passes us
what was traditionally toted as art. I have similar feelings by.
towards Pollock, Escher, and even Dali, anything really that
made me stand back and say wow. These days I look for that In my relatively short time, comparatively speaking of course,
same reaction from my clients as well as others within this in the industry I’ve seen enough white Subway and mosaic
incredible industry of floor layers and tile setters that I find deco strips to last a lifetime. These boring layouts need to
myself in. go. If we’re going to use white subway then let’s throw in a
colorful wavy glass accent strip and scribe it into the
I field tile. This piece of art has these great curves and
we’re just going to put a cut straight edge on it and
stick it between two other planes straight edges?
It’s time to think outside the box and step up our
collective game. We are artisans. We have the ability
to push the limits and lift each other up in our skill
set as well as our mindset. If you can think it, you can
make it happen.

I recently completed a project that pushed my limits
beyond what I thought I was capable of. I did a lot of
work on this particular client’s house from the new
hardwood floors to a custom hardwood staircase to
a powder room makeover to an epoxy staircase to
a full master bath renovation. Nothing over the top,
artistically speaking, but a lot of work nonetheless.
After all the work was complete they came to me
and said that they saw the more artistic stuff that I
was working on posted on my Instagram page (@
skyrofloors) and wanted me to do something with
their fireplace. I told him I’d be happy to do something
for them and in my infinite wisdom may have
mentioned that I could “do anything from something
basic to a custom mosaic of the lighthouse.” They
went for the lighthouse, which was great and I was
grateful for the opportunity, but now I have the task of
figuring out how to actually pull it off.

For the better part of a decade, we’ve been building
an online community in the form of Facebook groups
where you can connect with other members all over
the world. We have access to information and people
immediately. These groups are where I first found the
incredibly talented mosaic artist, Miss Angie Re. We’ve
spoken regularly for quite some time and I finally had
the opportunity to meet her in person at Coverings
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8 Flooring Specialist Winter 2022