Owner Fernando Cantarilho had his first stone-related experience in Portugal before immigrating to the U.S. and opening his own company, Fernando’s Marble Shop, Inc., a family owned and operated fabrication operation located in Rockville, MD. The company began in 1979 as strictly a marble shop and later incorporated granite production in order to meet customer demands.
Once a month, Keith and Betsy Klein, owners of Renaissance Stone in Mills River, NC, set aside a day to be creative, where they ask their employees to try something new - regardless of whether or not it will be successful. “I want them to be creative without worrying if we’re making big money, and at the end of the day, something can come up where we’re like, ‘Hey let’s show this to a customer,’” said Keith Klein. That’s just one of the many ways the couple finds new ideas for the stone industry, in addition to making their employees feel like they are part of the bigger picture.
Nisbet Brower, a full-service building materials company located in Cincinnati, OH, recently added a stone division to its business, and the 6,600-square-foot stone fabrication facility houses a variety of machinery from Park Industries of St. Cloud, MN.
MacLaren Fabrication, Inc. of West Chester, PA, has come a long way since it first opened shop in 1986. Initially, the business, which was founded by Company President Andrew MacLaren, started out as a DuPont Corian specialty shop. Since that time, the operation has significantly blossomed in size and capabilities. In addition to Corian, MacLaren Fabrication now produces natural stone and DuPontTM Zodiaq® countertops, and its most recent expansion is the opening of the “Verona Exotic Stone Gallery” - an upscale showroom catering to designers, custom builders and high-end homeowners.
With locations in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India, Granite Mart Ltd. has developed into a leader among stoneworking companies in the nation. And to maintain its solid position in the future, the company continues to invest in the latest stoneworking machinery from Italy and Germany.
Set in the desert region of Phoenix, AZ, the architects for the Riverpoint Center sought to connect the corporate facility to its natural surroundings, while also maintaining its corporate appeal. To help achieve these goals, the design includes sandstone from India, which was used for both exterior and interior applications.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park is among the newest high-rises to join Manhattan’s world-famous skyline. The 55-story building, which encompasses a total of 2.2 million square feet, was designed by Cook + Fox Architects, LLP of New York, NY, with the objective of becoming the most environmentally responsible high-rise office building in the U.S. Contributing to the building’s distinctive stature is an extensive amount of stone from India - supplied by Hindustan Granites Inc. of Hauppauge, NY - which was employed throughout the building’s public spaces as well as for exterior paving.
India’s rapid growth in the Information Technology sector has given rise to a number of corporate campuses for multi-national companies in the field. And in addition to offering a range of technologically advanced services, these projects have often utilized a large quantity of high-end stone materials. One of the largest ongoing projects is TCS Technopark in Chennai, which is using two varieties of granite, which were quarried in India.
Starting out dealing 100% with plastic laminate, Maxwell Counters, Inc. of Farmer City, IL, expanded into solid surface fabrications and, more recently, it began measuring and installing quartz products. The addition of digital templating technology has been an integral part of the company’s flourishing development.
In only four years, Stone Services, LLC of Chattanooga, TN, has expanded far beyond its owners’ expectations. The company, which was founded in June 2004 by Tony Allen and Keith Porter, has grown from four employees to its current staff of 26, and it has also significantly increased the size of its fabrication area as well as opening a showroom in Knoxville, TN. Moreover, recent investments in state-of-the-art equipment, including digital templating technology, have further contributed to the overall success of the business.
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