"Hands of the Artist" Water Feature Coffeetable Book by Greg Wittstock, CEO/Founder of Aquascape Designs in St. Charles, IL Overflows with "Aqua-deas" from Around the World including Celebrities!
- Lynne Kornecki
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
This full-color, hardcover coffee table book, offers up 300 pages of stunning photographs and descriptions of handcrafted water features brought to you by Aquascape Designs and its worldwide network of Certified Aquascape Contractors. Scroll down to view some of its jaw-dropping photos and to discover the amazing connection with Art BEAT Buzz publisher, Lynne Kornecki ...
If you love water features and always dreamed of how to incorporate one into your backyard or patio, this is the book for you. Retailing at $75 at the Aquascape Designs store in St. Charles, 901 Aqualand Way, or online, this tome delivers ideas by the bucketful!
Whether your outdoor space is a darling little patio or an expansive estate flanked by the Grand Tetons, there's truly a water feature solution here just for you. Now you too can join the ranks of such celebrities as Shaquille O'Neal, Martha Stewart, Bob Dylan, Will Smith, Tom Brady, Dr. Dre, LL Cool J and more who eagerly dove into the Aquascape Lifestyle to liven up their own exteriors with water's soothing sounds and swirling motion. Many of their residential water features are included inside this book. "Hands of the Artist" was created to both celebrate and inspire readers by showcasing the world's most amazing decorative water features in residential and commercial applications," Greg writes in the Forward.
Aquascape, Inc. is the world's leading innovator of decorative water features. Founder, Greg Wittstock, built his first pond as a youth in 1982 to house his pet turtles. In 1991, he turned his hobby into a business, forming Aquascape Designs, Inc. They now supply contractors and retailers around the world with their patented products -- each designed to work with Mother Nature, not against her.
How did Greg become an "overnight" business in 1991 that now stretches around the globe? Believe it or not, the back story includes the publisher of Art BEAT Buzz who once wrote feature stories for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE.
Art BEAT Buzz Publisher, Lynne Kornecki, poses with CEO/Founder Greg Wittstock (AKA The Pond Guy), and her CHICAGO TRIBUNE feature story that helped launch AQUASCAPE DESIGNS into an international business now headquartered in St. Charles, IL.
In Greg's own words, here is what happened after the newspaper landed on doorsteps...
"August 2nd, 1992, was a Sunday. 700,000 copies hit people's front porches that day. And for those too young to remember the times, news was delivered in only three ways--television, radio and print.
"The Chicago Tribune, the largest newspaper in America's third biggest City, had published a picture of me on the cover page of the Tempo section lounging alongside my pond. They titled it “Yon Golden Pond” with the cutline “Landscape artist Greg Wittstock, 22, relaxes alongside one of his backyard ponds. What he’s trying to achieve for his customers Wittstock says, is "the feeling of living on a lake”
"I was in Florida that day on a long-planned family summer vacation to Disney World -- of all places. But I had wisely arranged for my buddy since Jr High, Jeff Caprini, whose parents I also had built a pond for, to sit in my home and answer the phone if anyone reading the article were to call. I myself called him early in the morning only to have the phone line echo back the “busy sound”. Who remembers that?! The little clicking call waiting option hadn’t made its debut yet!
"When I did finally get through to my home phone line, I barely got to ask him how it was going “Witt, I’ve gotta go, as soon as I take one message and hang up, the phone rings again. I gotta go, bye!”
"A chill of excitement ran up my spine as I hung up the pay phone at Disney. Indeed my life and eventually the lives of many others would never be the same from that day forward!
"Last week, almost 32 years after that article took my fledgling summer job building ponds and launched me into my lifelong profession, its author, Lynne Kornecki, entered Aqualand. She had never been through its doors despite us being in the building since 2005. Amazingly, she had been residing less than two miles away from our property the whole time but was “too shy” to just drop in!
“I’m so proud of you!" she exclaimed immediately as I gave her a big bear hug at our entrance.
"She had come at my bequest. I had tracked her down a few months before and insisted she drop by the next time I was in town. In front of the entire company, I brought her up and introduced her as the woman responsible for them being there. Her “shyness” melted away quickly once she had the mic. She regaled everyone there with how she was so impressed visiting our ponds back then and my passion for what I was doing.
"I had built a total of 17 ponds when that article hit. I sold 81 more from that one article right out of the gate! And for the next 5, 10, 15 even 20 years later when people pulled out a yellow and faded copy of “Yon Golden Ponds” as we sat at their kitchen table, they would say “we are finally ready for Aquascape to give us the feeling of living on a lake.
"Success does not happen in a vacuum. It takes a lot of hard work, more than one’s share of good luck, and the right people coming into your life at just the right time to make success happen!
"Myself, many teammates, customers, suppliers and plenty of pond owners the world over thank you, Lynne, for penning that Chicago Tribune article way back when! #ilovemyjob"
Lynne and Greg (center) are surrounded by many of the St. Charles, IL Aquascape Designs staff in their employee cafeteria. The building is an incredible place to work from its employee fitness center, retail area brimming with amazing ideas, to the 600,000-gallon pond in front. The cafeteria is lined with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a welcoming patio area overlooking yet another water feature creation. If you haven't visited its store yet, definitely drop by! You'll find colorful Koi, exquisite aquatic plants, decorative pond accessories, fountains and kits, along with inspirational ideas both large and small.
Not many professional writers are blessed to see the fruits of their labor as I have been since graduation from Journalism School back when dinosaurs still roamed the suburbs! Visiting Greg, meeting his staff, and seeing all the behind-the-scenes from warehouse to offices, was a true privilege -- one I shall never forget. It was an honor and a huge blessing to reconnect with Greg and finally learn the details of the "back story" from so many years ago.
Thank you!!! -- Lynne
ATLANTA, GA. Shaquille O'Neal's 22-by-50-foot ecosystem pond with a 70-foot stream for this NBA Hall of Famer. Located in the front yard of his home it includes 85 tons of moss rock, and 35 tons of river rock used to carve the waterfall and pond into the landscape.
Shaq loved his first water feature so much he requested another for his Atlanta, GA home. Love the "S"!
Not all water features need to rival nature in size -- this patio-sized version is just as alluring!
Colorado Springs, CO home with its water features off the back corner of an expansive covered patio includes an 80-foot stream and a view (not shown) of Pikes Peak.
A perfect water feature for a small yard in Katonah, New York with a 15' waterfall. Underwater lights carefully layered shrubbery and perennials enhance its beauty.
Page 66...Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL -- Aquascape Construction installed three separate water features at this site -- including an 80-foot waterfall to replicate a watershed that can be replenished with rainwater from the property. The self-sustaining water feature provides a riparian zone which is instrumental in water quality for surface runoff.
MALENY, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA...The client requested an impressive waterfall that was also melodious in sound. Its 15-meter waterfall drops into a placid lake. Lush plantings add another natural element.