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Waterjet stone floor bedazzles Bellagio’s guests

In keeping with Bellagio’s elegant style, an intricately designed and waterjet-cut stone medallion was installed at the hotel and casino’s entrance

Guests entering the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, are greeted by a stunning new stone medallion that was meticulously cut with a waterjet at Creative Edge’s fabrication facility in Fairfield, IA.

Cut with a waterjet at Creative Edge’s fabrication facility — Using a waterjet to cut the medallion allowed for a high level of accuracy and precision.

Bellagio stone medallion created using waterjet, skilled craftsmanship — In addition to the waterjet, skilled craftsmanship was necessary to complete a successful design.

First impressions are everything -- especially in the luxury hospitality business. That’s why Las Vegas icon, Bellagio Hotel & Casino, refused to compromise their brand’s reputation for elegance when a custom-carpet entry floor showed signs of deterioration. The space that greets 20,000 guests each day originally featured custom carpets surrounded by a mosaic tile border. The carpets proved difficult to maintain and quick to show wear under the heavy traffic, while the surrounding tile was faring quite well.

The new solution needed to complement the hotel’s architecture, which was inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy. Creative Edge, a pioneer of using waterjet to fabricate architectural materials, partnered with the facilities and design team at Bellagio parent company MGM Resorts International to re-imagine the space using granite and marble in rich colors, accented by brass, with the Bellagio monogram as its focal point.

The detailed stone decorative piece was fabricated at Creative Edge’s state-of-the-art facility in Fairfield, IA, which is complete with 15 waterjet cutting machines. With stone being a hard material, a garnet abrasive was fed into the waterjet stream for stronger erosion action.

Fabricating the piece on the waterjet simplified cutting the complex and intricate shapes, and allowed for a high level of accuracy and precision. Using AutoCAD, Creative Edge converted the drawing of the medallion into a language that the waterjet could read through CAM and then it was downloaded onto the machine to be cut. Each individual component was cut separately and the round medallion was pre-fabricated at the fabrication shop for a quick no-guesswork installation.

The final design, inspired by the Bellagio brand and the property’s luxury interiors, was installed over existing concrete floors by Las Vegas-based contractor Superior Tile and Stone using Bostik adhesives and finishing solutions. The new lobby floor is easy to maintain, consistently looks great in spite of its high-traffic location, and will reinforce the brand’s strong position in the luxury experience space for decades to come.