What do you do when you’ve built and maintained an alluring pond, but your beloved koi start to outgrow it? If you’re near Long Island, New York, you call Demi, Edwin and Ely Fortuna of August Moon Designs. When they arrived at the scene of this dedicated, large koi pond, it measured 8 by 16 feet with just 2 feet of depth. There was a hustle and bustle of more than 30 strapping koi, some of them more than 2 feet long. And, like most of our customers who are koi aficionados, this one — of course — wanted more koi.
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Most of the labor was performed in a tiny space barely larger than the width of the excavator, wedged between a red maple and a group of Lawson cypress trees. Due to the minimal access and the need to haul more than 30 tons of stone, gravel and topsoil, the Fortuna fellows have dubbed this project their most difficult job of 2016. “There were times we had our doubts,” Demi says. “But we’re really glad we took it on — it’s a beauty.”
Demi Fortuna, Ely Ayala Scott & Edwin Scott-Fortuna
Demi Fortuna and his sons, Edwin and Ely, own and operate August Moon Designs, a water feature design and build business based in Stony Brook, New York. Demi has more than 25 years of experience in most aspects of water garden design and construction and currently serves as the director of product information at Atlantic Water Gardens. He has a passion for holding seminars and lectures on some of the industry’s most complex topics and presenting them in an accessible, enjoyable manner.
