Scott Cohen grew up playing with Lego blocks and drawing. “I’ve always been an artist,” says the president of The Green Scene in Northridge, Calif. “But now the blocks are heavier because they are cinder instead of Lego – but it’s basically the same thing. I’m building stuff.”

Cohen has a ceramics background and deep knowledge about casting and sculpture. “My garage today is basically a ceramics studio,” he says. He designs custom tiles for clients. And he’ll melt bottles and incorporate them into countertop designs for outdoor kitchens.

Once, Cohen cast a client nude to create a mermaid for an outdoor project. But often the work he does serves a decorative/functional purpose. Cohen creates his own molds for countertops, for example. Then he casts the concrete and adds materials such as recycled glass or stone into the mixture. “I create the concoction right on site and polish it,” he says of his process.

This is one story that appeared in our Business Builder Newsletter. The others were:

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