Document text
Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 28, 2006 Reproduction artist Mirka Skocka paints a floral scene based on sketches from a Marzi Sinks customer. (Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli) Hand-painted sinks perk up the loo By John Darling for the Mail Tribune GRANTS PASS — The bathroom is no longer just a bathroom. The once humble room is "taking off" as a sanctuary, a space where you relax, pamper and rejuvenate — and for Marzi Sinks of Grants Pass, builders of custom, high-fashion sinks, that means jobs as well as gross sales fast approaching $1 million annually. They don't design sinks — well, sometimes they do to go along with a tile maker's line, but the bulk of their spendy output, priced at a thousand or two, is chic or quirky stuff, hand-painted on-site by ceramic artists who know how to capture personal designs. Imagine being a guest and walking into a bathroom expecting the usual sterile, off-white sink — and coming face-to-face with a bunch of billiard balls trying to get down the drain. One client asked for money — big bills, mind you — going down the drain. Obviously a private joke, say Duane and Belinda Marzi, second-generation owners of the firm started in 1959 by his parents in Southern California. Advertisement Another client — a family of people with a private joke about them all having big noses — ordered a sink painted with moose. Many send photos of dogs and horses for a shot at immortality on a bathroom sink, while one woman from Sausalito shot for the moon with the score of "That's Amore," decked out with stars, musical notes and pepperonis. But mostly, Marzi sinks are tasteful floral, wildlife or geometric designs, ordered to match back-splashes, tile and shower curtains and to make the bathroom a refuge from the madding crowd, they say. For the prime minister of Thailand, that means gold. It matches the interior of his luxury jet and sets the right tone of prosperity and power. The sink was in a Moroccan design, in real gold and they charged him $1,500 — not a prince's ransom, but enough to encourage the steady uptick of custom orders now 50 a week that they need grow a good foundation here. The jump to Grants Pass started with a call from friends Barry and Debbie Russell, owners of Encore Ceramics, a firm that made the jump from Santa Rosa five years for much the same reasons. "They were sipping a glass of wine and watching the river go by — and they said 'you've got to come see this. Life is wonderful here.' So we came on a whim and, wow, fell in love with the place." But it was more than the view that made them bail on Carmel Valley, where they had their factory and home of many years. "It was our children 8 and 10 years old and taxes," said Duane Marzi. "Taxes in Oregon were much lower. In California if you increase revenues, they find every way for more licenses, fees and utility surcharges. They don't call them taxes, so there's no vote on it. They just do it." Personal livability weighed in bigtime. Employees couldn't afford to live anywhere near Carmel and were jamming in apartments together. Then there was safety. "One employee said gangs in nearby Salinas were so bad, he was afraid to let his daughter out in the front yard," said Duane Marzi. The Marzis brought half their crew here from California, found a city that was "happy to have us, in fact, they were actually interested in helping us," says Duane Marzi, and they opened doors for them to build a 14,000-square-foot factory on bare land in an enterprise zone only blocks from a freeway feeder avenue. With 14 workers, the Marzis build their sinks from scratch, mixing and pouring clay in molds — oval, rectangular, plain and with decorative borders. They fire them in kilns, baking out moisture and hardening them. They glaze them — and then the art begins. Packing and shipping happen in the new building. Most Marzi sinks fit flush into the counter, but many follow the growing trend of "vessel sinks" that are parked on top of the counter, with normal drains and faucets attached. Artists Mira Skocka and Monica Broome, both of whom already lived in Grants Pass, toil over each custom sink, painting on client-submitted designs, with plenty of beloved pets and horses in the mix, they say. The city of Grants Pass and other agencies, such as Southern Oregon Regional Development Inc., helped the Marzis with plenty of service and helpful loans and grants, notes city Economic Development Director Charlie Mitchell. Spalding Commerce Park, where the Marzis and the Russells located, is an enterprise zone, offering deferred property taxes for three years, says Mitchell. The city offset systems development charges with grants of $10,000-plus. "We don't have a big warchest of incentives, but what we have is quality of life, good schools — these are husband-and-wife teams with children — access to the I-5 corridor and services that make them feel welcome," says Mitchell. "We help get them through construction, permitting, even helping them find a home. We keep in touch with them after they're going. We basically never give up on them." John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisements Advertisement