All in the Family

For many, passing gifts to the next generation is life's primary goal, so it's no wonder that Avedis Duvenjian, partner at Archetypal Imaginary Remodeling, is so pleased with his company's second Wood Floor of the Year award. Helping Duvenjian on this end-grain mosaic project at the headquarters of AriZona Iced Tea in Woodbury, N.Y., was a typical cast of architects and designers, but there was also a young boy who often lent a hand: Duvenjian's 8-year-old son, Tigran, who also went on stage in San Diego to help his dad claim their latest trophy.

"On this project, he came to the job site so many times," Duvenjian says of his son, "and the client really loved him. He would try to take Tigran on tours and get him iced tea, but he would say, 'No, I want to stay with my dad.' Every time I speak about wood, he loves to learn."

The entire floor comprises thousands of end-grain white oak and wenge pieces, organized in a concentric-circle-mosaic pattern and glued to a plywood subfloor. "Looking at the middle, you think it's one piece of wenge, but it is not," Duvenjian says. At the center, the faces of the tiny pieces measure about 1/16 inch by 1/4 inch. With each successive circle, the pieces become incrementally bigger until the final rows, where they measure 1 1/2-inch square. For Duvenjian, this was the toughest part of the job: Gradually increasing each row—millimeter by millimeter—to give the intended effect of having his client's logo appear to be floating in a dark, rippling pool.
The biggest fan of the project is Tigran. At school he was recently assigned an art project to create a design using his school's name. His chosen medium? End-grain mosaic with wenge and white oak glued to plywood.-D.D.