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Industry News
Fishstone, a provider of supplies for concrete countertop companies, has relocated to a larger facility. The new building is located in Elgin, Ill., near Chicago. The company will be hosting an open house on August 27 to show the new facility.
If you’re on the fence whether or not to attend the International Woodworking Fair (IWF) in Atlanta, August 24-28, ISFA has another reason why you should be there. Come join us at Oldcastle Surfaces for a shop tour and good old fashioned fabricator meeting on Thursday, August 26th beginning at 5pm.
Designed for 100 percent water recycling and closed-loop operation, the Hy-Pack system from Beckart Environmental filters influent from saws, polishers and CNC equipment down to below 1 micron, and routes the clean water back for use in the fabrication process.
ISFA kicked off the first session of its acclaimed Solid Surface Total Fabrication Training in a new facility July 19-22. For the first time in two years, the ISFA offices and training center are located in the same building. Previously, Total Fabrication Training was hosted at Utah Valley University, also in Orem.
For less than the price of a good router you have the opportunity to learn from the decorative surfacing industry’s best and brightest for an entire day. “Cabinets to Countertops: Turning Opportunities Into Profits” is scheduled for August 24, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to run concurrent with IWF 2010. The purpose of the symposium is to provide specifiers and woodworkers with product knowledge about the many types of decorative surfacing used in commercial applications today.
Kitchen & Bath Design News (KBDN) is hosting a one-day Leaders Conference focusing on the future of the kitchen & bath industry. The event, which will be held Sept. 21 in the Chicago area in Hyatt Rosemont Hotel, in Rosemont, Ill., is designed to provide a roadmap of the future. The symposium, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will cover a variety of topics in various sessions put on by industry leaders.
The Marble Institute is accepting nominations for the 2010 MIA Craftsman of the Year Award. The award recognizes one craftsman who has physically performed outstanding stone fabrication and/or installation over a period of many years.
Coverings Etc. has received recognition for its eco-friendly surfacing products, such as its Bio-Glass material. In the Red Dot Award: product design 2010, Bio-Glass was awarded the "red dot" quality label for high design quality by the jury made up of renowned designers from around the world.
Colonial Saw Inc. has partnered with J & G Machinery to distribute STRIEBIG Vertical Panel Saws in the Carolinas and Southern Virginia. As a new dealer, J & G will provide sales, service and parts for the full-line of Swiss made saws.
Vetrazzo, producer of recycled glass surfacing material in a concrete matrix is now a division of Polycor, a company known for its quarrying of granite and marble.
It's not often that an opportunity arises that actually helps everyone involved but we at Specialtytools.com is relaunching its Web site on June 1 and is offering special incentives along with it. Not only will all ISFA members receive a discount, but owner John Michaels is donating a percentage of gross sales through the site to the Aron Cole Fund, to help ISFA staff member Kevin Cole’s son, who was critically injured when he was hit by a drunk driver in February.
The International Surface Fabricators Association (ISFA) unveiled a Web site configured specifically for mobile phones that allows decorative surfacing professionals to read current and archived issues of Countertops & Architectural Surfaces magazine anywhere they can get a data connection.
The MIA has launched the Natural Stone Sustainability Fund in order to raise funds to support the Natural Stone Council’s sustainability initiative. The fund will also help the MIA defray the costs of several of its own sustainability initiatives including a green advertising campaign on behalf of the natural stone industry, the creation of natural stone sustainability CEU programs and the development of educational resources.
The National Kitchen and Bath Association's (NKBA) 47th annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) drew more than 37,000 attendees, up almost 30 percent over the 2009 show. Nearly 700 exhibitors showcased their most innovative and latest products in more than 300,000 sq. ft. of expo space at Chicago's McCormick Place on April 16 to 18.
Karran previously sold its 100 percent acrylic sinks under the Karran brand name and its stainless steel and quartz sinks under the Lansen brand name. However, because the Karran name is more established, having been around for more than 15 years and Lansen is relatively new at only 4 years, the company has decided to combine all of its products under the “more powerful” Karran brand name. Over the next few months all Lansen products will be rebranded under the Karran name. No models or model names/codes are changing. Profile, Select, Elite, Q and Edge series of sinks will remain under these series names but from now on they will be Karran, not Lansen.
DuPont is changing the way consumers, architects and designers can choose their surfaces by creating mySurface, the first iPhone application of its ki...
The International Surface Fabricators Association (ISFA) unveiled a Web site configured specifically for mobile phones that allows decorative surfacin...
Staron Surfaces, a division of Samsung, has expanded its market reach throughout North America by adding six new distributors to its team. Those joini...
LG Surfaces is now directly distributing its HI-MACS solid surface and Viatera quartz surface products to fabricators all across the Western region, and provide ongoing market support to kitchen dealers, home centers and the A&D community previously serviced by California Wholesale Material Supply LLC (“Calply”). This move reflects the changing market dynamics in the building materials industry and the commitment of LG Surfaces to service the market in the most cost-competitive manner possible while stimulating new growth possibilities for all of its customers.
2009 is in the books and behind us, and it is easy to say that it was a pretty tough year for everyone. But what does 2010 and beyond hold for the countertop industry? The experts say it is likely going to be quite a bit better.