Amazing Stone, Ltd. has taken on a unique position within the stone industry. Using minerals that were originally used for jewelry, the company has developed new technology and methods created to create these products referred to as The Semi-Precious Collection of products, which can be used for kitchens, floors, bathrooms, walls and furnishings - available worldwide through Antolini Luigi & C., S.p.A.
Founded in 2001 as a manufacturer of laminate countertops, Odyssey Tops, Inc. of Myerstown, PA, recently expanded its operation to include quartz surfacing. And when it did so, not only did it move into a larger 24,000-square-foot building, but it also brought in the latest generation of stoneworking technology.
No matter how long you’ve been in the stone industry, or what areas of expertise you have developed, you can always benefit from continuing and advancing your education. Fortunately, there is no shortage of high-quality educational opportunities within the stone industry. One prime example of this can be found at StonExpo, which takes place from October 18 to 20 this month in Las Vegas, NV. In fact, an extra day of seminars - with longer, more in-depth sessions - is set for October 17, the day before the exposition opens.
The 2007 edition of CarraraMarmotec, which took place from May 30 to June 2 in the world-renowned stoneworking center of Carrara, Italy, was regarded as a success by its organizers, as it saw an increase in its international attendance.
Although virtually all of the quarries for Carrara White marble in the Apuan Alps keep themselves well connected with the material’s long and venerable history, the Cervaiole Quarry site stands apart from many of its counterparts. The quarry sits upon Mount Altissimo, one of the most celebrated peaks in the Apuan mountain range, and it has a well-documented history that dates back for centuries.
A new technique for reinforcing fragile marble blocks was recently employed at the facilities of Henraux in Quercerta, near Carrara, Italy. And by using a relatively cost-effective reinforcement technique on medium-range materials, it is hoped that an entire new collection of stone materials will become commercially viable in the near future.
With roots that date back to 1962, the Campolonghi Group – based in the Carrara stoneworking region of Italy – has developed into one of the world’s leading stone producers. Recently, the company added to its stature with a new operation in Avenza-Carrara, close to the port of Marina di Carrara.
During the early 1990s, Henraux of Querceta, Italy (near Carrara), made headlines in the international stone industry for its massive undertaking of two enormous stone mosque projects in Mecca and Medina, Saudia Arabia. Today, the company is adding to that accomplishment by completing the stonework for yet another massive mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
As more and more new stone fabricators began opening in the Philadelphia, PA, Metropolitan Area over the past few years, Tony Diguglielmo of Buzzelli Contractors said the company had to make a choice. “We had to decide whether to follow the trend of lowering prices, or that we would emphasize quality,” he said. “We went with quality.”
Not too long ago, I received an e-mail from a public relations firm representing Toyota, saying that they wanted to lend Stone World one of their Toyota Tundra trucks for review. As a quasi-construction magazine, Stone World has been placed on many periodical lists used by public relations firms, and as such, we get a lot of misdirected e-mail from “mainstream” construction-related companies. Since I couldn’t discern a relationship between Toyota trucks and the stone industry, I chalked this e-mail up to Stone World’s presence on some sort of list, hit the “delete” button, and went on with my day.