A decade ago, I traveled to the famed Giallo Veneziano
quarry in Brazil -- via helicopter -- and immediately counted it among the most
interesting places I visited while doing this job. To see an entire mountain of
granite being worked by nearly 100 people was a sight I will not forget.
A little less than three years ago, I remember sitting down with an long-time fabricator friend of mine from Boston, and he was one of the first to tell me that his business was being seriously affected by the recession.
With fabrication shops working on tighter margins than ever before, many shop managers and owners are eliminating unnecessary cost by increasing efficiency. Recently, I conducted a roundtable on increasing shop efficiency with members of the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA), which can be found on page 62 of this issue.
When talking to a long-time fabricator friend of mine recently, I noted that a lot of homeowners out there seem slow to emerge from their "Cocoon of Fear" -- a term which seemed to both amuse and concern him.
While the design of a young girl's bathroom in an upscale home in Demarest, NJ, is vibrant and full of personality, it is also an example of designing with the environment in mind. Tile and stone designer Anna Marie Fanelli of Floor & Décor in Tenafly, NJ, introduced her client to custom glass mosaics and recycled glass floor tiles that are not only fashionable, but are also considered to be green products.
With the objective of creating an upscale resort that reflects its natural surroundings, The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, OR, is an extensive showcase of stone throughout its exterior and interior designs.
The
new Tomahawk Stone Splitter from
Braxton-Bragg offers an economical concept in “green” fabrication by using
leftover slab pieces to create beautiful stone products.
As I walked around two of the major international trade fairs earlier this year - Coverings in the U.S. and the Vitória Stone Fair in Brazil - major exporters were telling me that sales to the American market had decidedly increased for the first quarter of 2010.
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