Dan's Papers - September 21, 2007

Advent Design International's owner, David Luster, takes enormous pride in designing and creating his company's architecturally inspired, custom-made hand-carved stone baths and basins. The combination of 300 million years of natural crystallization and hundreds of hours results in Advent's magnificent pieces of functional art for the home and spa. Luster travels the earth's continents to commission the finest artisans and to uncover exquisite blocks of stone, recognizing that the critical attention to detail is what set his collection of artistic stone baths apart.

Luster's entry into this labor of love began when his father started an international tile and stone trading company when David was in college. "My father made me cut my hair, put me on an airplane to Italy and said 'learn all about the ceramic and stone business and don't come until you've mastered the language and the business."

The plan was for Luster to remain in Italy for six months. His love of the business and the culture got him hooked, and Italy became his home base for some 11 years. Of the three children in the business, David was the one whose love of travel and experiencing the world at large propelled him to assume the responsibility of sourcing product globally.

Much of Luster's quarter century in the mainstream stone and ceramic industry has been spent sourcing products throughout the world from South America, Europe and Asia. "Along the way," he says, "I realized the need for pieces that were outside the ordinary and began a search for exquisite stone." The search took him from the interior of Brazil to the Peruvian Andes, the Italian Alps, Turkey, India, and throughout the far East.

Even as Luster located the world's best artisans and put them together with superb examples of marble, travertine, granite, basalt and limestone that he sourced, he knew the journey wasn't over.

One of the toughest challenges for Luster and Advent is finding the right piece of stone. The laborious process of custom carving a stone bath requires that first the stone be mined from a quarry, with a typical boulder weighing sixteen to eighteen tons! Then begins the work of cutting this boulder into a rectangular or square block that weighs five to six tons. The carved and sculpted finished pieces require 350 to 400 man-hours to create. "Only after we have invested an enormous amount of time on a particular project can we see the true colors and unique features of the particular block as it is being transformed into a lavish bath.

Luster instructs his clients to "fill the bath with piping hot water, let the water steep, drain the bath, and then climb in and plaster yourself to the surface." "This," he adds, is "stone therapy."

The company does not work with distributors and therefore has no showrooms, but instead prefers to sell on a direct basis to the high-end professional community and the consumer. At any given time, there are a number of hand-crafted solid stone soaking baths and basins, made to measure, in Advent's warehouse waiting to be shipped to clients, and Luster welcomes visits from the world at large to view his magnificent pieces in person.

Luster's penchant for detail likewise extends to the impeccable service he and Advent provide, which is vital to ensure flawless delivery and installation. He observes, "The customers - be it the builder, architect, interior designer, or the homeowner - genuinely appreciate all that we do," and, he adds, "in the end, that's what makes my work so gratifying. To enhance the beauty of someone's home, knowing they will have a lifetime of enjoyment and relaxation in our most unique and exquisite stone baths which were created just for them, gives me a sense of satisfaction beyond description."

Advent Design is a proud member of SBIC, the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, encourages "green construction." Materials used in the design and construction of residences and buildings of all types utilize natural materials that that are sustainable and environmentally sound. Advent's solid stone soaking baths are priced from $21,500.