Antolini Luigi & C. is more than just a stone producer. The Verona, Italy-based stone manufacturer has become a brand name synonymous with luxury. This company is the setter for the stone industry. Well-known for its exotics, luxuries and precious material, Antolini Luigi & C. is a company that continually thinks outside the box, and always produces unique and high-quality stone products for markets worldwide. Always looking to expand upon its brand, the Italian stone manufacturer opened Antolini do Brasil outside of Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, in 2008.

The alchemy between the Antolini brand and the true essence of the materials with which they work gives rise to unique products. The very roots of the company began and evolved with natural stone and the connection between this precious element to the Earth and its primordial history is the basis of the company’s philosophy, as well a means of creativity.

The company’s success is founded on certain vital key factors:

• Intuition, the ability to see the quality and uniqueness of a natural stone before others;

• Respect for the past, for the history contained within the materials, for the experience of previous generations who laid the foundations for the development of a major business organization;

• Passion for the Natural Stone;

• Openness to evolution and change that continuously drives the Antolini organization to seek out and blaze new trails in the processing of natural stone in order to obtain faultless products from the aesthetic and modeling point of view.

Since its opening, the company continues to invest in its South American facility, which exports around 80% of its material to North America.

With approximately 100 workers, Antolini do Brasil runs two shifts — meaning production is non-stop. At the time of Stone World’s visit, thousands of blocks at the facility were ready for processing. Antolini do Brasil has the most updated factory, technology and machinery, including six jumbo Gaspari Menotti gangsaws for cutting blocks in a large production scale.

Apart from the six jumbo gangsaws and two mono-wire machines, Antolini do Brasil has one Italian multi-wire machine and has just purchased a new Ramos Universo one.

Antolini thinks that it is important to have two multi-wire machines to improve and increase their production of the exotic and high-end-exotic materials, for which they are very strong and famous.

Extreme care is taken during the production process to ensure that all the slabs are properly treated. Raw slabs of exotic stone are all automatically resined on a Levibreton resin line from Breton S.p.A. of Italy, then sent through a Breton vacuum line in order to suck in the high quantity of resin in the stone slabs. Then the slabs are polished on a Levibreton KG 3000 Ultrix polishing unit.

To ensure top-notch quality, a slab selector is stationed at the end of the production process to check each slab to make sure that the quality is right. The selector classifies each slab. Slabs are then bundled and ready
for shipment.

Once a bundle is ready, a picture is taken of it and then the bundle is moved to the warehouse where according to Antolini, most of the bundles are pre-sold.

In keeping with the sophisticated brand Antolini has conjured, the warehouse has two main “avenues” — appropriately named Rodeo Drive and 5th Ave. — running through it.

Antolini has a tagging system where every bundle gets a label with the material’s name, block number, weight and a customer’s code. Each bundle is given its own “address,” making it easy to find it once it is placed in one of their warehouses. Everything is extremely organized, which is particularly impressive based on the large volume of containers that are loaded and shipped daily from Antolini do Brasil. Quality and customer service are top priorities of the company and the Antolini family really prides itself on excelling in this area.