Corradini Corp.

In 1924, Angelo Corradini founded Corradini Corp. (CC) as a small terrazzo manufacturer and installer. An immigrant, Angelo had learned the trade in his home country of Italy. He worked in the United States as an installer before striking out on his own.

The business is now in its fourth generation of family operation. Angelo’s grandson, Ronald Corradini, owns the business and serves as company chairman. Ronald’s children, Chris Corradini, president of CC, as well as Lauren Corradini, head of human resources and safety director, now proudly lead the company.

“We are a family-oriented company,” Ronald states, explaining that is a characteristic of the business that shines through in every interaction. The Corradini family shares a passion for this work that is shared with employees. “It really does not matter what you are doing in life, but you must have a passion for whatever it is,” Ronald continues. “Fortunately, my passion and that of the entire staff has been in terrazzo. It makes it so we all want to get to work every morning. In fact, some of our staff gets in around 5 a.m., with the rest arriving at work no later than 7:15 a.m. Those early work hours are not set by anyone, our staff just cannot wait to start another day.”

Outside of a small office staff, Ronald’s 300-plus field employees are artists and craftsmen. The team designs, manufactures and installs cast-in-place terrazzo in the commercial construction arena on a national scale, specializing in public works projects. The business also provides installation for ceramic tile and slab marble, but terrazzo is the company’s niche. CC specializes in artistic floor designs with a range of colors and patterns customized to the taste and functionality requirements of the client.

Large scale, small details

CC is based in Fountain Valley, Calif., with a satellite office in Las Vegas. The business sends its office-based installers across the country to perform detailed specialty floor work as opposed to national competitors that subcontract or hire local labor.

“Our way of doing business may be more costly, but we are always guaranteed that the installation will be perfectly performed by our trained installers,” Ronald explains. “Every single foreman on our staff knows that either my son, Chris, or I might walk onto the job, so it had better be up to our standards. We are pickier than our customers would be and when we walk away from a job we are sure every single thing is perfect. We don’t cut corners regardless of cost.”

The team recently installed 550,000 square feet of terrazzo in the Los Angeles International Airport’s Bradley Core and Concourse Terminal. The design incorporates six colors forming curved and ellipse patterns.

“What made this project interesting, besides the magnitude of it, was that we also installed 11,000 square feet of cast-in-place terrazzo on the ceilings to form tunnels,” Ronald notes. “No company in the U.S. has ever installed cast-in-place terrazzo on a ceiling. We were given a challenge by the designing architect. We not only met the challenge, but the terrazzo ceiling tunnels also look beautiful. Our team was recognized by the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association [NTMA] for this installation.”

A few years ago, the team wrapped up another landmark project, Terminal 3 at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport. The crew installed 780,000 square feet of terrazzo in 27 colors forming a unique geometric pattern.

“This project was perhaps our most challenging ever, since we had to complete an industry record breaking 30,000 square feet of finished terrazzo every week,” Ronald explains. “This required us working at all times on 82,000 square feet of the project so we could go through each process of the installation in order to be able to turn over 30,000 square feet finished each week.”

Ronald says the most rewarding project of his career has been the terrazzo installation at the Getty Villa Museum, located in Malibu, Calif., in 2004. “The museum asked us to duplicate the terrazzo and marble floors found in Pompeii and other historic Italian places,” he explains. “To authenticate the duplication, we used half-inch pieces of marble mosaic for designs and color separations. Each mosaic piece was individually hand set. The intersections of the mosaics were mitered and sliver cut in place. We used brass and cut-to-size marble borders as an accent in some of the patterns. Eight different colors made up this artistic floor for a world renowned museum. This terrazzo installation is truly a work of art.”

Looking ahead

CC has built up a strong portfolio of artistically diverse projects. “We go after more decorative, artistic and intricate work,” Ronald notes. “Our projects are often part of an art budget. That instills serious pride in our installers to produce projects like that.”

The company’s ambition and craftsmanship has also garnered attention from the NTMA year after year. The organization presents only a few Honor awards each year at the annual convention. On average, CC takes home two or three Honor awards each year. Over the last nine years, CC has achieved Project of the Year five times from the NTMA and TTMAC, the Canadian counterpart of the NTMA.

Looking ahead, the business has built up a large backlog of projects under contract. As the market improves, Ronald’s team is prepared to tackle new challenges, providing leading service and lasting works of art. The company has obtained a strong reputation for quality workmanship, a trait that endures through economic cycles. Corradini Corp. is not slowing down any time soon and Ronald and his team are looking forward to presenting clients with new, highly detailed works of art and craft in the coming years.