by aleida, on March 22nd, 2010
Our tour of Vetrazzo’s Richmond, CA manufacturing facility (reviewed here) introduced us to more than just a fascinating industrial process. We also learned the story behind the product from Karen Righthand, VP of Marketing, and John Sabol, VP of Manufacturing.
It all started in the mid-90s on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. At the time, Don Macpherson, a material scientist at the school, started noticing a lot of glass heading to the landfills. Wanting to conserve the beauty that he saw in recycled glass, Don put his experience as an artist and environmentalist to work in order to develop a durable way to use that material. In collaboration with an architect friend of his, they developed the recipe for a recycled glass and cementitious matrix mix, and the process for transforming that into slabs.
Their creation drew attention quickly. Various projects started requesting the slabs for use as countertops, tabletops, etc. But there really was no business infrastructure to support the demand. Don and his partner basically cooked this up in their garage. Under the company name of Counter Production, and already calling their product Vetrazzo, they alone handled every new order; they personally travelled to each project site, measured the area, built a mold for the surface, mixed and poured the material, and polished, cut and installed every piece. Though very time-consuming, they maintained the endeavor as little more than a hobby.
One of their earliest clients was Olivia Teter, a product designer who had a countertop installed in her home’s kitchen. A couple of years after her purchase, she was helping a friend remodel a kitchen, and she went back to Counter Production looking for another Vetrazzo countertop. Olivia “found the company in complete disrepair,” states Karen. Everything was so custom-made that larger orders from farther away were a true challenge. But the product had found its way to the other side of the country, and Olivia saw great potential. She went to James Sheppard, who was in an investment group with her, proposing to look at Vetrazzo. The two of them were already looking for something to invest in, and this was a beautiful, beloved product with a life of its own and a cool story behind it.
They brought in a financial partner, Jeff Gustafson, raised the capital, and bought all the intellectual property from Counter Production. This team scaled it for national distribution, launching production under the name of Vetrazzo, LLC. They maintained the original, proprietary manufacturing process, for which the company has recently received notification of the granting of their patent. Don continues to be involved with the company, although through an outside consultant role.
The product’s long environmental track record got a significant push forward a few years later, when the company moved into their current energy efficient manufacturing facility in Ford Point. Their formulation continues to rely solely on 100% recycled glass, most of which they work to collect from very local sources live beverage container redemption centers. The cullet makes up a precise 83.23% of the final slab mix. The remaining is composed of 12.61% Portland cement and just over 4% of two mineral powders. If in Quality Control it is determined that a slab is defective, it gets used for other purposes, such as making samples. If it is completely destroyed, it is used as road base aggregate. Vetrazzo has a take-back program that accepts not only destroyed product but also that which is still in good shape for further use. The company is a Certified B Corporation, and distinguished as a Bay Area Green Business.
Late last year, Vetrazzo published an Environmental Product Declaration through The Green Standard (available for download here) for their Glass House product, the first in the entire industry. The document is a fascinating read that provides a very detailed look at the product. Among other things, it identifies the slab’s carbon footprint to be 193.35 lbs. of CO2 equivalent per square meter of installed countertop.
The company’s goal is to expand their manufacturing capacity. They want to build factories in other parts of the country so that they can offer slabs that use local recycled materials for their respective local market, thus helping potentially depressed economies. They may even license the technology to cooperatives around the world who can use their own local waste to develop tiles, pavers, or any number of products that can provide a way to reuse waste in the community and provide economic stability. We are eager to see how the company continues to evolve in the coming years.
Thank you, Karen and John, for your time during our talk!
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