About us at Fordite.com

About Us

Greetings! Welcome to fordite.com and thanks for visiting our site! Our company, Urban Relic Design has had a happy and long history with Fordite. We are nuts about Motor Agate, and are dedicated to providing designers and collectors with fine, and collectible Fordite jewelry and cabochons. Due to many requests, finished Fordite jewelry, and cabochons are now available for direct purchase on our sister website, www.urbanrelicdesign.com . Additional Fordite products may also be avilable through the links on our Auctions page.

We are now located in the northwest suburbs of the Greater Chicagoland area. Our business hours are 9am to 5pm, CST, Monday through Friday. Our facility is currently not open to the public, but you can send us an email anytime, to: info@fordite.com

Below is our founder, Cindy Irwin's personal Fordite story:

"I came across my first pieces of this material in the mid 70's, when I was young. A friend of the family worked for american automobile manufacturers, and he brought a few chunks of this raw, hardened paint material over to the house. He called it "paintrock". At the time, I was into the pet rock phenomena, and was painting beachstones into psychedellic art objects with my Spinart machine, and having a blast making refrigerator magnets and paperweights out of them. I loved to make all kinds of things with found objects. As we lived a few blocks from the beach on Lake Michigan, there was always something to find there- cool rocks, fish bones, beach glass, shells, pottery bits, industrial junk- you name it. It was a virtual treasure trove for anyone into "found objects".

"I had developed a love and fascination for minerology, and had begun really learning more about the subject while I was in school then. The thought that these beautiful chunks of "paintrock" came from an auto factory, and not from the earth opened a whole new line of thought for me, and my art. These chunks didn't look like much, but when you cut through them, they sure looked organic, with those familiar stripes and concentric rings, just like real agates. But the colors! Wow! Unreal. At that time, my favorite stone was malachite, which for those of you who know, is a soft stone, with a delicious combination of banded, and orbital greens. Much to everyone's dismay, I found some mild amusement in adding an extra "d-i-t-e", "l-i-t-e", or "m-i-t-e" on the ends of other words here and there, just for the fun of it. (Yes, I am a nerd.) Subsequently, I came to name my paintrock, For-dite. I thought it was funny, but it made sense too. I made some funky pet rocks, magnets, and pendants out of it, and sold every one. My early love for this fabulous stuff was born. Dy-no-mite!"

Progressively, when I discovered that the general public had really opened their minds to accepting all kinds of materials and unusual items for use in jewelry, I focussed on collecting Fordite wherever I could. I knew how excited I was when I finished my first piece of art with it, so all these years later, I'm not surprised at the positive response I have received in offering it to the public as jewelry cabochons. It was a natural inclination for my own use. True, it is not a real gemstone, but you can't beat gorgeous, and that is undeniably what Fordite is! Outta-sight! I've been bitten by the Fordite bug, and I love it!"

~Cindy Irwin

PLEASE NOTE:

FORDITE IS THE NAME WE HAVE GIVEN THIS PRODUCT WHICH IN NO WAY IMPLIES ANY RELATION TO THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY. WE ARE NEITHER AFFILIATED WITH NOR ENDORSED BY FORD, OR ANY OF ITS' SUBSIDIARIES. WE EXPRESS NO DESIRE, NOR DO WE ATTEMPT TO REPRESENT OUR ITEMS AS FORD MOTOR COMPANY PRODUCTS. OUR FORDITE INVENTORIES HAVE BEEN CULTIVATED FROM MANY DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS.

"MOTOR AGATE" IS OUR REGISTERED TRADE NAME FOR THIS AUTOMOTIVE ENAMEL PRODUCT.

Have you been bitten by the Fordite bug too? Can't get enough? If so, please visit our F.A.A. page.

Email: info@fordite.com

About Us.............