00:19
K. Schipper: Hi, I’m K. Schipper with the latest in hard surfaces industry news from Radio Stone Update. A little later, Emerson Schwartzkopf, editor and publisher of Stone Update Magazine, will join me to talk about our online newsletter, Slab & Sheet, as it begins its 15th year. But first…
00:33
Italian sources have revealed that at least one aspect of the stone industry wasn’t good for them in 2024. Foreign sales of Italian stone processing equipment declined 14% from 2023. The number comes from the Confindustria Marmomacchine Studies Center in Milan, Italy.
A large portion of the decline came from the United States, where customers cut spending on Italian stone-working machinery, installations, equipment and tools. Exports of those products decreased from €1.12 billion in 2023 to €969.3 million last year.
Approximately 75% of revenue for the stone-equipment sector comes from foreign sales and is something of a shock after three consecutive years of annual equipment export growth of more than 7%.
Topping the pullbacks is the United States, with last year’s €137.5 million in equipment purchases showing a 22.2% decline from 2023. The United States is Italy’s top foreign client, representing 14% of all exports of Italian stone machinery.
Other countries showing a drop in Italian stone machinery purchases last year include Germany, Poland, Spain and Canada. However, the country saw increases in purchases by Turkey, which rose 7.1% to €68.6 million, making it the second largest purchaser of Italian stone-making products, and France.
03:21
Nearly 25,000 industry professionals attended Coverings 2025 at the end of April in Orlando, Fla.
Organizers of the tile-and-stone event were particularly pleased with the year-over-year growth of attendees who either specify or approve purchase of materials. Fully 75% of attendees fell into those two categories, while the show also saw notable attendance gains in other key industry segments.
In total, Coverings 2025 included 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries spread over 440,000 net ft2 of exhibit space, with an emphasis on tile, stone, tools, technology and machinery products.
Jamie Rich, Coverings’ show director, said Coverings 2025 demonstrated how the global tile and stone industry continues to thrive through shared innovation, craftsmanship and collaboration.
“This year’s show created meaningful connections across continents and professions, inspiring new ideas and elevating the future of tile, stone, construction and design,” Rich said.
Along with distributors, retailers, fabricators, contractors, architects, designers, builders and real estate developers, the event also drew journalists, bloggers and social media influencers covering the tile-and-stone-industry.
The event also featured an expansive education program with more than 150 speakers in three core tracks: Installation & Fabrication, Materials & Trends and Workforce & Profits. Additionally, three featured stages provided more than 50 learning opportunities on the show floor.
Eight guided tours provided in-depth access to innovative tools, equipment and materials. Self-guided audio tours allowed visitors to explore key exhibits at their own pace focused on themes such as Health & Wellness, Sustainability and Outdoor Spaces.
Offering hands-on learning opportunities with live demonstrations and discussion were the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation and the Stone Fabricator’s Alliance.
Coverings 2026 is slated for March 30-April 2 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To be notified when registration opens, go to www.coverings.com
05:52
This year is only half over, but for Phoenix-based Arizona Tile, 2025 has already seen a number of plaudits from trade-show recognition to design accolades and collaborative success.
The year began in Las Vegas, where Arizona Tile was honored with the Best Small Booth Award at The International Surface Event (TISE). The company was cited for its booth’s creativity, thoughtful layout and engaging presentation.
That was followed in March when Arizona Tile received a Best of Houzz Design Award for 2025. This award is seen as being particularly meaningful because it’s based on how often the company’s designs are saved by users in their idea books – proof that its products are resonating with homeowners, as well as designers and professionals.
In early May, Arizona Tile was further honored at the 2025 International Interior Design Association – the IIDA/HD -- with an Expo Product Design Award for its new porcelain tile from Italy, Fluida, which will launch later this year.
The company also partnered with NBBJ, a Los Angeles-based architectural and design firm, for the 2025 IIDA Product Runway Show, where its collaborative design entitled “Urban Jungle” earned the “Concept to Creation” Award.
Arizona Tile, founded in 1977 in San Diego, has grown into a commercial and residential distributor located in 10 western states. Today, it distributes granite, marble, quartzite, limestone and travertine slabs and tile, as well as Della Terra® Quartz, Della Terra porcelain slabs and porcelain, ceramic and glass tile.
07:38
K Schipper: As I mentioned earlier, Emerson, Schwartzkopf is here with me in the studio today to talk about our electronic newsletter, Slab and Sheet, as it heads into its 15th year. Thank you for being here, Emerson.
Emerson Schwartzkopf: Well, thank you for having me.
K Schipper: You’vebeen covering the stone industry since 2002. What was the idea behind Slab and Sheet, and why did it get started in 2011?
Emerson Schwartzkopf: Slab and Sheet came out of really the end of Stone Business Magazine in 2011. We were looking for a way to communicate beyond printing and mailing magazines, which is incredibly expensive, and we thought about doing it electronically.
It started out as The Full Bullnose. After about a month or two, we decided to essentially part ways, and I started this is an independent, renamed The Edge. And then after a while, it came to the name that you know right now, which is Slab and Sheet.
K Schipper: You don't happen to recall some of the stories that were in that first issue, do you?
Emerson Schwartzkopf: Yes, I do. And amazingly enough, we were talking about imports, and we were also talking about crystalline silica and exposure.
K Schipper: How has the industry changed since that time? And has your emphasis with Slab and Sheet changed?
Emerson Schwartzkopf: How has the industry changed? It's maybe a little more corporate than it was when we first got started. It’s not that there weren’t a lot of companies at the start, but frankly, there are maybe fewer sources for any number of things, whether it be surfaces or machinery or tooling or whatever.
And also, really the side of just doing fabrication has gotten a little bit more corporate. And I don't mean to say that we have just two or three corporations doing all this, but we probably are making it so it is more of a real business and not a craft. And we also have larger and larger fabricators out there doing more; putting in more machines, those kind of things. And that's why we're really covering it more like that.
It's not like we're losing touch with the individual fabricator or the “mom and pop shop” that only has a couple of employees, but we also have to recognize that is becoming ever bigger and bigger in business, and we have to cover it that way.
K Schipper: Why don't you talk a little bit about what it takes to put an issue of Slab and Sheet together?
Emerson Schwartzkopf: Well, to begin with, we run a number of bots along the internet, basically covering all sorts of different types of topics. Frankly, about 99.8% of everything we get that way is really just pure garbage. But we do manage to glean things out of those searches, both in the United States and globally that are things that you really should be recognizing that are happening out there.
We also, of course, gather sources from people and companies within the industry, and we also do searches of things going on with our government, such as customs, such as court cases, and then we pull it all together. We post stories as we need to, on the Stone Update website, and then we then put that together into a newsletter.
Now the newsletter has to all be done by 2 p.m, on Tuesdays, and that sounds really strange given the fact that almost every one of you out there gets Slab and Sheet at about 9 a.m. on Wednesdays. Well, that's because we have put basically a time signature on every email that we go to. We know where you're at, and also the time zone that you are operating under.
That thing that comes out at 9 a.m. that you get, say, maybe in the Chicago area, or you get in the New York area, was also received at 9 a.m. in Munich. It was received at 9 a.m. in Athens. It was received at 9 a.m. in Mumbai. It was received at 9 a.m. in Shanghai. Essentially, we do everything so that everybody gets the information first thing in their morning,
K Schipper: That was Emerson Schwartzkopf. Thank you, Emerson.
Emerson Schwartzkopf: Thank you.
11:58
K. Schipper: Park Industries®’ Fabricator Exchange™ -- FabX – headed West for its second event of the year and encountered an enthusiastic audience in Salt Lake City.
More than 100 fabricators came together for a day of presentations, shop tours and machine demonstrations. Speakers included:
• Omar Chahin of GMD Surfaces on the concept of throughput dollars;
• Bill and Dawson Cambell of A-One Solid Surfaces on their shop’s digital transformation journey;
• Alan Jorgenson of Bedrock Quartz Surfaces on how his shop had grown and its operations had been scaled to meet demand, and;
• Dave Amelotte, the CFO of Park Industries, presenting insights into industry trends and what fabricators should be watching for in the months ahead.
A-One Solid Surfaces and Bedrock Quartz Surfaces also hosted attendees who saw 15 Park Industries’ machines in full operation.
Additionally, Bedrock Quartz presented a porcelain workshop where fabricators got a close-up look at how to cut, lay out and build with porcelain as the Bedrock team walked attendees through the process of creating a porcelain sink.
This was the second ever FabX event following its launch in early May immediately after Coverings 2025 in central Florida.
13:22
Remember, Slab & Sheet comes out on alternate Wednesdays. For a transcript of today’s broadcast, go to www.radiostoneupdate.com. I’m K. Schipper for Radio Stone Update, and we’ll see you here again soon.
