The first place winning crew was Lester Swick, Chris Purdy and Ronald Twentier of Custom Marble & Granite in Butler, PA (www.CustomMarbleGranite.com). Their winning entry was a high-end kitchen display for a home show featuring perimeter counters of black galaxy 3cm with an ogee edge profile, and a show-stopper island of African Tobacco 2cm step stacked over ogee with an integrated apron front sink with mitered walls for a seamless look. With stick templates and hand profiling, their small custom fabrication shop, led by husband and wife team, Lester Swick and Jean Marie Schneider, specialize in old-school processes to produce high-end results. They’re dedicated to raising the standards of stone fabrication as well as helping other fabricators increase the level of quality industry-wide.

“We were extremely honored to be recognized as the winning Crews that Rock! Our crew is made up of proud artisans, maintaining old-world skills to complete projects. They are extremely talented with true passion for stone fabrication! Winning the trip to StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas allowed us to strengthen our team’s bond by experiencing the show, education and Las Vegas together,” Schneider said. “In fact, one of our main guys, Ronald Twentier, proposed to his girlfriend when first learning of the trip, and they tied-the-knot while at the show!”

The second place winning crew was Britishstoneworks of Lakewood, OH (www.britishstoneworks.com).
Nick Blantern, Britishstone’s proprietor, specializes in providing the finest quality hand carved stone and dimensional stonework, and has a deep understanding for the restoration and conservation of heritage. Their winning entry, the “Spirit of the Ocean” fountain, was a collaborative effort with Nathan Hunt of Hunt Studios in San Francisco along with Andrian Melka, Stephan Bouska and Blake Rankin of Britishstone. Hunt Studios produces fine handcrafted sculpture in stone, metal and cast materials. Each team member brought years of experience and knowledge, which is now reflected in this historical piece of fine artwork, standing proud outside of The Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

“I’m very proud of our accomplishments and happy the team won. This recognition, along with the benefits of attending StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the high standard of stone carving talent available here in the United States,” shared Blantern.

FIRST PLACE Winning Entry My name is Jean Marie Schneider, and I along with my husband, Lester Swick, own Custom Marble & Granite in Butler PA.   We are a small hand fabrication shop that is 4 years young.  In 2011 we created a display for a home show with an expected 300,000 people over 10 days. Our  display stopped traffic. Our crew is made up of my husband, Lester Swick, Chris Purdy, & Ronald Twentier.  The crew is talented, artistic, dedicated, particular, and determined to take natural stone fabrication to the next level and do it without any digital or automated machinery.  Our company and crew take improving the stone industry seriously and are active members of the Stone Fabricators Alliance, participating in many of the hands on workshops hosted around the country. The project we are showing is a kitchen display, the perimeter back counters are black galaxy 3cm with an ogee edge profile and the island was the show stopper; African Tobacco 2 cm granite with stacked ogee over ogee ( 4cm) profile tracing the intricate carved post bumpouts  and returning into an integrated granite apron front sink with mitered walls and apron for a seamless look. The Apron front is a created using 3 miters to make a substantial 1.5" wide apron with the "seamless" look.  The left, rear & right walls are mitered from the countertop to the sink bottom creating a "seamless"  integrated sink. Picture #1  CMG - Redondo - This is the "Crew"  Lester Swick, Chris Purdy & Ron Twentier.  This photo was taken in LA when the "Crew" traveled from Butler PA to Palm Springs CA to attend the hand fabrication work shop at DeMille Marble in Palm Desert CA, February 2011. Picture #2 Fabrication of integrated sink Picture #3 Integrated Apron Front Sink Picture #4 Finished Island Sink Please consider our crew for the CREWS THAT ROCK because these guys are truly Rockstars!

SECOND PLACE Winning Entry Santa Barbara County Courthouse | Santa Barbara, CA The newly replaced Spirit of the Ocean Fountain stands outside of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, a National Historic Land Mark. Sadly, the original Spirit of the Ocean Fountain, first created in 1927 decayed and fell apart over the decades due to natural deterioration and human neglect. Britishstone’s proprietor Nick Blantern teamed up with fellow Englishman Nathan Hunt of Hunt Studios, Andrian Melka, Stephan Bouska, Jack Carter and Blake Rankin to undertake the monumental task of carving the replacement sculpture. Nick Blantern, Nathan Hunt and Jack Carter studied stone carving in southwest of England restoring Cathedrals, churches and national landmarks and they now reside here the US. Andrian Melka is a figurative sculptor from Albania, Stephan Bouska and Blake Rankin are both stone carvers born and raised in California. The project started by taking a 3-D scan of the original fountain and a CNC machine created the Styrofoam model. The artists had to mold clay and plaster to the Styrofoam sculpture, using early photos of the original fountain as their model, to correct the decayed parts of the original fountain. Using chisels with tips custom shaped to match the original chisels used, the artist’s goal was to get as close to the original fountain as possible, without losing a single detail. The stone was craned onto the lawn of the courthouse, and a 40x40 foot carving studio was set up, opening the project for public viewing for the seven month project duration, encouraging and inspiring questions and comments from the public viewers. Britishstone’s goal in replacing the Spirit of the Ocean Fountain was to preserve as much of the history as possible. It was incredibly important to not leave their own artistic handprints on the fountain, but to preserve the original artist’s work.