Ornamental Concrete Concepts
970 Brownsdale Rd
Evans City PA 16033

724-538-9494

steve@concreteocc.com

Most of us have a pretty good idea of what we want to do in life and so we map out our travels and get on with it, but often life with all of its twists and turns throws us curves in the road.

Sometimes these curves present themselves as opportunities and it’s up to us to recognize them and act upon them.  This is just what happened for Stephen Palsa, owner of Ornamental Concrete Concepts which just opened its doors in 2005.  Stephen, a quiet, but very personable guy  grew up in Mars and worked during his high school years in the landscaping/gardening industry applying his artistic talent for design to perennial gardens.  His ultimate career goal was to be a industrial designer or so he planned.

After high school and a year of drafting school he realized what he really needed was to be in art school, but before he got there he was offered a job at a company that made concrete statuary.  His job there was the pouring and stripping of the concrete molds, but his artistic passion was dying to get out.  While at this company he convinced the owners that they needed to display their wares in a garden setting to show the customers the way various products could be utilized in the landscape, so he created the perennial gardens which now line the driveway of the business.  Although art school and industrial designing was still on his mind, there was something about this business he enjoyed and which allowed him to be creative so he ended up working for five more years all the while learning as much as he could about the business and even started experimenting making his own molds at home.  Then came that ‘big curve in the road’, the day Stephen filled his paper work and opened Ornamental Concrete Concepts LLC.

Stephen without hesitation followed his dreams. Being just a few years out of high school he wasn’t well funded but he took the chance because he had vision and a burning desire to succeed at something that allowed him to be creative. Yes there are other businesses out there that make concrete statuary, in fact, driving past his business you might think that this is just another place selling concrete statuary, but it is not. Stephen has many unique artistic abilities, and one of them is his company’s ability to customize each piece using dyes or stains so that ordinary molded pieces can become individualized creations to fit each customer’s personal outdoor decor.  Just walk in the front door of the business-directly in front of you, will be a outdoor stone bench.  Take a close look at it, you will think it is a stone taken from the woods, but it is actually one of his molded concrete pieces, cast from a real stone. Also on display is some very realistic looking stone edging, molded from real stones. 

You will also find a large selection of concrete animals, pedestals, working fountains, oriental pagoda’s, gargoyles, angels, benches, stepping stones, pavers, pillar balls and caps and of course bird baths and various other statues.  Besides using purchased molds for many of his landscape embellishments, Stephen also produces many of his own molds from things taken from nature and from original sculpted pieces.  He has also branched out to home applications with his ornamental concrete and is manufacturing custom, concrete counter tops and sinks.  Outdoor patios and walkways can also have creative stencils applied to new installations that mimic stones and pavers and acid dyes can be applied to new or existing surfaces to give them customized finishes.

One day while talking to his mother, Kathy, who often helps in the staining and painting of the molded pieces she said, “You know Stephen used to come home with mud all over his face, as all little boys do, and now he’s still playing in the mud (concrete), except now he’s making a living at it.” 

I guess it was fate and that curve in the road that allowed Stephen to find his creative niche.

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