Using the knowledge he gained from running porcelain factories for many years, Luo Shengxiang made the leap to quartz surfacing in 2006 when he founded Nande Quartz Stone. Since that time, the company, which Shengxiang runs with his business partner Pan Jinen, has been a silent leader among Chinese quartz manufacturers — primarily producing products for other Chinese companies to sell to the U.S. market. But with the recent completion of an expansion to its factory — located in Jiantao Industry Zone No. 2, Taoyuan Town, Heshan City, Guangdong, China — Nande Quartz Stone is ready to strengthen its presence in North America, as well as to continue to produce quality quartz products for Australia and Europe.

Mark Schama of StoneSpec explained he first encountered Nande Quartz Stone a while back when he was researching Chinese quartz manufacturers for a U.S. company he worked for at the time. “I had the task of going through China and meeting quartz manufacturers,” he explained. “I took it seriously. I went through cradle-to-cradle certification, which is very hard to do,” he said. “It’s a long process. I went through the chemistry, where the ingredients came from, the legitimacy of material suppliers. We selected certain factories to make certain products. Nande looked like a small company, but they made a great white quartz. I learned they specialized in making whites and grays that were sold to other factories to sell to the U.S. market. They were a kind of ‘sleeper’ company not many people knew about. The owner is Chinese and all his connections are Chinese. We became friendlier through an interpreter. He wanted to develop a market in U.S.”