Some engineered stone companies have been working to tackle issues related to sustainability. Their use of renewable bio-resins that are UV-stable, better allow for their use in outdoor applications, such as this kitchen fabricated from Diresco quartz.
EMBRACING A CRYSTALLINE RENAISSANCE
The changing face of quartz By Paul Max Le Pera and Jessica McNaughton Since the early 2000s, the engineered stone (quartz surfacing) industry has experienced positive, profitable and prolific growth, globally. Relatively speaking, quartz surfacing embraces many attributes that continue to fuel its popularity and specification. That said, the category has also undergone some severe challenges in recent years, necessitating a sort of renaissance to ensure its sustainability. Charles Darwin said, “In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” This statement essentially refers to the No. 1 skill of survival
The Renaissance was a period in history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to Modernity and was a time marked by genius and notable change. Cultural norms, values and even
technology underwent sustainable reformation
– adaptation. It seems that living and being
fueled by rejuvenation.
reside on a fluid foundation. That is to say, just
Now take a look at 2020, a new decade
when you think you are rooted in place, the medium around you begins to move, shift and mutate. Inaction can be as deadly as wrong action, and therefore those businesses who are constantly taking the pulse of cultural norms, personal values and technologies are those best
launched with nearly unprecedented instability: pandemic, potentially life-changed elections,
geo-political tensions, unemployment and racial tensions, just to name a few. The concurrence
of these significant dynamics has, for many, led to an ever-present feeling that the global tide of
brings us back to the point that adaptation is
the top survival skill, and that applies to not only animals, but also businesses.
We can be highly encouraged by several
organizations within the surfacing industry that
are adjusting their rudders as industry currents shift. Many firms are making a distinct effort to embrace sustainability, a movement that
has been re-energized and is rapidly gaining
increased global attention. The term essentially focuses on finding greener alternatives so as not to deplete natural resources and whose
connotation is simple: finding ways to do things that last.
Engineered stone/quartz surfacing, with
its continued growth in popularity among
specifiers, such as architects, designers and
even homeowners, is not immune from a host
of changing conditions that require adaptation.
Prime among these are the hefty tariffs that have been placed on Chinese quartz, ailing global
poised to adapt when the underlying current of
Darwinism is shifting again.
being begins to shift and, it indeed has. We are
That said, we know that change is woven into
re-emergence, of engineered stone’s greatest
thing we can be certain will not change is the
forefront of the product category’s challenges, it
beginning to see a 21st century renaissance and this bodes very well for not only the quartz industry but for all of the surfacing categories.
the fabric of the human race, and the only
fact that everything will eventually change. This
32 • Vol. 13 / Issue 3 • International Surface Fabricators Association
economies and the emergence, or arguably the hazard, silicosis. With these factors at the
is most certainly experiencing a fluid foundation
