Concrete Pavers: A Passing Note on "Rustic Red Hollandstone."

Keep in mind, I was 13 years old when I worked my first summer full time in the business. 1988. Concrete pavers - Unilock - was the latest. I might title a further work "Coming of Age During the Rise of Concrete Pavers." Everything was new. The "business" which once was based on rakes, spades, sodcutters, and a grading tractor became intensified and muscularized - big trucks, tampers, diamond tip blades, and fork lifts.

The "intensities" of being a 13,14,15...year old boy/man in this space is another story.

The dominant products went in waves. There is a pre-history for me of old materials - "Unidecor," "Slope Block." Then came "Classico" which was fading out by '88 or '89. "Hollandstone" followed. This was the "wheel house" of my paver installation years. It was primarily used in two colors, "Rustic Red" and "Terra Cotta." By the mid-nineties, tumbled pavers and "Brussells Block" began a move towards an ever higher and higher technology, price, and aesthetic. Through the early 2000s, material advances were limited but there were movements towards more sophisticated patterns and textures. And now, in the past 10 years, technologies have been developed intensifying colors and finishes to where we have almost hyper-real simulations of anitque paving materials, as well as 'architectural' grade pavers maintaining pace, if not driving what is comtemporary.

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Point - this morning I was thumbing through the 2014 Unilock catalog looking for design inspirations to help reduce the budget on an upcoming project. And, there it was, instantly provoking a small welling tear (I don't know why I'm so emotional lately!) - pg89, "Rustic Red Hollandstone." I'm pretty sure that will be our solution.

1988 was twenty-eight years ago.