Articles by Michael Reis

When it began fabricating kitchen countertops and commercial work last September, Counter-Fit of Willingboro, NJ, chose some of the most advanced machinery from Italy

At the Extra White Marble Quarry in Espirito Santo, Brazil, workers extract several varieties of marble, including some one-of-a-kind materials.

After operating two years as an importer of Brazilian granite, Brazil Stone Corp. of Carlstadt, NJ, expanded its operation by investing in quarries in the state of Bahia.

To meet the ever-growing countertop market in the U.S., Zucchi Granite Group of Serra, Espirito Santo, Brazil, is producing and exporting countertop “blanks” with finished edges.

Italian stone producer Bruno Zanet has been quarrying stone and trading blocks in Brazil for over 25 years, and it has just expanded its operation with a state-of-the-art facility for slab resining and polishing.

In late February, I was interviewed by The New York Times for an article that they were preparing on the labor market in the U.S.

Small-scale renovation projects at Shea Stadium in New York highlighted the quality of stone, with a range of materials being used for a prototype luxury suite as well as the owner's box.

The fans at the Community College of Southern Nevada have already nicknamed the baseball team's new stadium “Bedrock,” in honor of the 4,000 tons of stone it took to build the stands.

The Walsh Center for Performing Arts at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, TX, was built with limestone and travertine to relate to other buildings on campus.

This month, I am writing my column from a hotel room in Vitoria, Brazil, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in 90-degree heat in mid-February.