Captivating Concrete

Eric Gremm’s parents doted over his numerous talents including music and art, and would even today proudly tell you how he’s always been a creative soul. Growing up in a Colorado Springs and alongside his dad’s construction team, Gremm’s creativity found a comfortable place in home design and construction, including pouring concrete which seeded the question—why not use concrete in other elements than flooring? As that seed sprouted roots and grew over decades, it finally produced into the deliciously, artful fruit known as Grey Stone Artistry.

In short, Grey Stone Artistry offers one-of-a-kind decorative concrete designs for countertops, backslashes, flooring overlays (in and outdoors), solid pours with steel inlays and weeping water walls. Gremm creates 99% of the designs himself, all free-hand, unless a customer wants steel inlays, then together they devised a design. “This is my creative outlet and I spend my evenings and weekends working as needed,” he said. “Sometimes spending 3- 5 hours a night, but I don’t mind as I love creating a piece I know no one else but this one client will have.”

Gremm, an Army veteran, has been honing his skill and talent for nearly 8 years, methodically teaching himself the art of decorative concrete via video tutorials and attending clinics after work and on weekends. Today, his nearly 30 custom projects sit in art galleries, new home constructions and the homes of friends and family, and all accomplished in the last 3 years since relocating his family to Chadron, Nebraska where he leads a course in cement at a local trade school.

As many DYI homeowners and contractors know, the cement mixing process can be quite delicate, thus the transformation of cement into decorative concrete does indeed take a special talent. While he uses traditional tools—gloves, steel trowels, concrete mix and plywood—his process requires a myriad of color mixes, squirts bottles, cooper paint as well as a unique product only he and less than 100 others in country are licensed to use. Most countertops and flooring overlays, of course, must be completed on-site and typically take 3 days from start to finish—with the design chosen ahead time. Other jobs like his hand-chiseled water walls, vertical overlays and countertop overlays can be done off-site at his Chadron shop and once cured, Gremm is happy to delivery and install.

As his ideas blossom, so is his business which now spans into South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado. In addition to solid, seamless pours ideal for countertops and floors, Grey Stone Artistry offers a variety of molds perfect for backsplashes and accent walls, again guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind as no color treatment is the same. His molds range from long to short pieces, and vary in tile and wood designs such as barn wood, hand-scraped wood and bark. Once a mold is chosen, the client then selects a color treatment (aspen, pine, mahogany, blue ash, multi color or a color from their home pallet). Once ready, Gremm is ready to install or ship/deliver as the light-weight molds are mounted with screws or stone glue. He sells his durable concrete molds finished, as well as unfinished for those do-it-yourselfers and contractors. “Due to the resilience and strength of the product I use, my molds make excellent lower level siding and outdoor accent walls,” he explains. For those without a clue how to color treat or seal a concrete mold, Gremm will soon be offering clinics and classes of his own to both contractors/supply companies and DIYers. Don’t be surprised if his 13 year old daughter is in tow, as she too can teach a few things!

With the assistance of his supporting wife, Gremm is able to take on jobs all year around. “Winter remodels are common in our area, so if a customer needs backsplash or water wall, or even a countertop, my shop is open,” said he happily. “But delivery might be an issue depending the weather conditions.”