Established in 1941 by Jack Kingry and Coy Brunson, Southside Granite Co. of Dothan, AL, quickly became the most fully equipped memorial manufacturing plant within a 100-mile radius, serving customers in Alabama as well as Georgia and Florida. Today, the company remains in the memorial sector, and it also fabricates kitchen countertops and architectural stonework for a diverse client base.
Question: How are people templating their countertops these days? It seems more shops have gone digital, but it is not universal - even when people have CNC machines, waterjets, etc. For fabricators who are using digital templating systems, how long did it take for you to learn? Were your templating employees hesitant to make the change? Were there any mistakes or lessons to be learned? For folks who are templating manually, what are you using, and what has prevented you from making the switch to digital?
For decades, Kyanite Mining Corp. of Dillwyn, VA, has been quarrying the mineral kyanite for refractory purposes. Preserved through the years by four generations of the Dixon family, the company recently incorporated the quarrying of dimensional blocks into its operations.
This past spring, stone fabricators from around the country gathered at Cadenza Granite & Marble Inc. in Concord, NC, for a Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) Workshop. As part of the extensive program, two SFA members offered a hands-on demonstration of their techniques for seam setting and top polishing.
As homeowners continue to look for countertop materials made from exotic stone materials, fabricators are being asked to work with fragile materials more than ever before. This past spring, skilled stoneworking professionals at Cadenza Granite & Marble, Inc. in Concord, NC, detailed all of the various steps that can be required when processing a Rainforest Brown marble countertop. This educational session was part of a workshop by the Stone Fabricators Alliance.
Til-Mar Designs of Philadelphia, PA, has experienced several transformations since it first opened for business in 1996. Owned by the father-and-son team of Thomas Giordano Sr. and Thomas Giordano Jr., the company initially concentrated its efforts on tile sales and installation. The business then expanded nearly four years ago, when the owners decided that it would be more productive to fabricate their own countertops rather than relying on subcontractors. Approximately a year and a half ago, Til-Mar Designs once again transitioned by opening its 2,000-square-foot showroom to place added focus on homeowners.
The owner of a successful stone fabrication company that bears his name, Michael Homchick has worked in the stone industry for more than 30 years. The current facilities for Michael Homchick Stoneworks, Inc. in Kenmore, WA, rely on advanced machinery to meet the demands of its high-end market.
For nearly 80 years, Texas Quarries has been a reliable source of Texas limestone. With two quarries and a large-scale fabrication mill, the Cedar Park, TX-based operation has been producing Cordova and Lueders limestone since 1929. The company is owned by Acme Brick and is a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway.
A few hours outside the city of Fortaleza, Brazil - which is renowned for its pristine beaches - stone aficionados can find a seemingly endless range of quarry sites for exotic materials as well as traditional stones.
Despite generally poor economic reports, particularly in the housing market, the continued interest in stone and tile was reflected in the four-day turnout at Coverings 2008 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, which saw 35,000 attendees from April 29 to May 2. The event’s performance surprised skeptics, as its overall attendance compared to its last appearance in Orlando (in 2006) was up 3.8%.
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