INTO THE OUTSIDE

Clockwise from far left: Firepit seating with custom hardscape designed by Ellin Goetz; Earth Surfaces of America in Naples creates an array of styles and designs.

INTO THE OUTSIDE EARTH Surfaces Locally made terrazzo surfaces and shell-embedded pavers offer custom solutions for exterior hardscapes

ELLIN GOETZ

By Nanci Theoret

Terrazzo, that speckled surface often associated with 1920s Art Deco and midcentury design, has leaped from the past to modern high-end design, getting shoutouts from Pinterest and Vogue. It’s also moved outside to cover patio decks, driveways, walkways, and staircases, often mimicking the look of brick pavers, marble, cobblestone, wood, paving stones, and shell-embedded tabby.

Naples landscape architect Ellin Goetz appreciates terrazzo’s versatility and durability—and the freedom it lends to her designs. She favors unpolished, shell-embedded pavers for driveways, pathways, and outdoor sitting areas as an homage to Naples’ historic tabby construction. Since discovering locally manufactured terrazzo from Earth Surfaces of America 15 years ago, she’s created custom looks for public projects, such as the Naples Botanical Garden and the new children’s garden at Trinity-by-the-Cove, and private residential clients, using terrazzo for walkways, pool decks, and pool coping.

“It’s such a wonderful material. I can be creative in the shape of pools and steps. I like to keep it subtle and natural outside to look like Florida as much as it possibly can,” says Goetz. “I always want to use local materials when I can. I try to promote that it’s locally made and not dug out of the earth [overseas]. It’s a nice alternative to stone. It’s a dense, high-quality product that doesn’t degrade.”

ENDLESS OPTIONS

Naples-based Earth Surfaces started as a mosaic specialist in the 1990s, switching to high-end, cement-based terrazzo products after it could no longer compete with imports, says owner Tony DiNorcia. The company works with landscape architects, builders, and interior designers, producing custom pavers, large- and small-format terrazzo tiles, and countertops and vanities on-site. “We manufacture custom terrazzo surfaces in any shape, size, color, finish, and content,” says DiNorcia. “There’s a lot of artistry involved.”

Concrete provides a durable, long-lasting surface that won’t yellow from sun exposure like resin-based terrazzo. Earth Surfaces’ extensive inventory includes classic marble-chipped terrazzo invented centuries ago in Venice, Italy, as well as recycled glass, crushed granite, and beach pebbles. A variety of shells—including iridescent abalone and mother-of-pearl, conch chips and swirls, and shell cross sections—also create organic variegations. Phosphorescent stones glow in the dark, adding ambience to a powder room countertop or pool coping.

“Ninety percent of our content is recycled,” says DiNorcia, whose father and brothers were stonemasons in his native Italy. “People come in with paint samples, wood surfaces, pool tile, furniture, and drapes they want to match.”

Goetz appreciates the menu of materials for custom projects. “It’s like baking a cake,” says Goetz. “I choose the ingredients. If I want to use Florida shells and abalone with a shimmer or recycled glass, Tony makes it.”

Earth Surfaces has also created large-scale terrazzo installations featuring nature-inspired abstract designs as part of revitalization projects in downtown Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Coral Gables’ famed Miracle Mile. For the Trinity-by-the-Cove project, Goetz replicated the church’s distinctive architectural window in the pattern of Earth Surface’s Playa pavers.

DiNorcia a l s o m a k e s t e r r a z z o b e n c h e s a n d p l a n t e r s a n d h a n d c r a f t e d s t a t e m e n t m a k i n g a g a t e t a b l e t o p s i n b l u e , g r e e n , a n d n a t u r a l c o l o r s . «

Tony DiNorcia, owner of Earth Surfaces of America, makes pavers and tiles with recycled glass, phosphorescent stones, crushed granite, pebbles, and shells. Above: DiNorcia’s installation at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

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