Founder Justin Hawkins explains how it all started.
Hint: It was never about concrete.
If you had asked me 30 years ago what I would be doing with my life, concrete would have never entered into the equation. Throughout my youth I had always enjoyed making things and I was always drawing and building things because it was fun. In college I had enrolled in Photography and Studio arts spending much of my time drawing and painting. Almost instantly I knew my career had to include some element of creativity. I finished my Bachelor’s degree but wanted to explore further into the world of art and design and decided to go back to school for an associates degree in Graphic and Multimedia design. Having this additional experience and perspective has helped to shape our crafted solutions today.
After a few years working as a graphic designer there was something calling me to feel more productive with my hands as an artist. Those early years of studio art in college reminded me it was the physical side of the creative process that I was really missing
I took a gamble and left my successful graphic design job and starting working for a concrete fabrication company. It turns out this wasn’t just any company, this was Cheng Design, an award winning design company led by principal Fu Tung Cheng. The connection and craftsmanship in creating my first piece out of concrete was a pivotal point in my career. I was finally doing the things that brought me the most happiness- doing meaningful creative work that was constantly challenging with an element of physicality and craftsmanship that I had been missing. I did everything I could to be involved at Cheng. From fabrication to site construction, from product development to helping create one of their national training programs I was intimately involved in the art of concrete. Through working and learning with a team of like minded creatives, I finally felt like this is where I was meant to be.
After several years of working in California for the renowned Cheng Design I knew I wanted to be closer to family here on the East coast. In late 2005, Livingstone Concrete Studio was born in Rhode Island. LCS is a full service custom residential and commercial design studio. We work with a close knit team of artisans, fabricators, designers, builders and architects and specialize in innovative and timeless concrete design. Throughout our 15 years of concrete expertise, our portfolio contains a very broad spectrum of work. We have taken on many challenges and have learned and grown tremendously from all of them. It is our mission to help you realize your vision and to create a design that will not only capture the beautiful natural essence of concrete, but will last you a lifetime.
At Livingstone Concrete Studio we produce the finest concrete aesthetic throughout New England and have received national recognition for our work. So what are you waiting for? Let’s play in the mud!
-Justin
