About 12 years ago, fresh out of college, I answered an advertisement in a local newspaper seeking an assistant editor for an “architectural trade magazine.†That publication, as it would turn out, was Stone World. After shredding my initial surprise that such a magazine existed, I went to the interview and quickly learned that this was a highly respected publication that was considered to be the leading voice of the stone industry. Today, as the magazine celebrates 20 years of publishing, we are proud to be part of an industry that is enjoying unprecedented growth.
To gain a better understanding of what the industry was like in 1984, I recently spoke with the founder of Stone World, Mike Lench, who was the magazine's publisher when I first joined the staff. “I had the feeling that we were at the beginning of a boom in construction,†he said. “Stone had become the material of choice for cladding, and it was a very fortunate time to start Stone World. There had never been a magazine like it at the time. There were some association magazines, but not an all-industry magazine.â€