Is Stone’s Time Almost Up?

A longtime player in the Italian stone trade thinks it’s time for the industry to face up to the continuing rise of a major competitor – ceramic materials – and is issuing a call to action.

Angelo Marabelli, founder of the Italian trade magazine Marmomacchine, makes the point in the lead editorial from its latest edition. (Go here and look for pages 8-9). He ruminates about possibly seeing “the extinction of the entire stone-production chain” due to “stoneware, in other words ceramic tile.”

Not just any tile, either. Marabelli believes that ceramic is making more of a play for higher-end work, sometimes attaching designer names to products that look like stone, but aren’t.

Marabelli calls for a series of international round-tables to pull various sectors of the natural-stone trade together to hear new ideas for what he calls “re-launching” the stone trade – and find those in the industry willing to take on the challenges. These groups would need to be international in scope and willing to address problems squarely.

The German site stone-ideas.com is offering a blog for industry people worldwide to post views on the issue. The results may offer insights for the initial roundtable, which may occur in or near the Marmomacc stone event this September in Verona, Italy.

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