MACAEL, SPAIN — For more than five centuries, workers have excavated white Macael
marble from quarries that rise like stone fortresses in this rocky region of southern Spain.
The industry employs more than half the 6,000 residents of Macael, where a
marble sign marks the town's entrance and giant blocks of
marble form some of the fences.
But one family that has worked these
marble quarries for generations realized that even the majestic building block of ancient wonders isn't enough to sustain a modern business.
And the Martinez-Cosentino family's efforts to diversify and develop a more profitable product have reached from mountainous Macael to the flat coastal plain of southeast Texas.
In 1990, the family acquired the Silestone technology from an Italian company.
Used primarily for countertops, the product contains 93 percent natural quartz, combined with resins and an antibacterial ingredient called Microban.
In less than two decades, the stain- and scratch-resistant material has become so popular that it's used in one of every four kitchens remodeled in Spain.
Kitchen and bath material buyers from around the globe buy slabs churned out in the industrial park of Grupo Cosentino, a company that took its name from the Cosentino side of the family.
And Cosentino is hoping for a countertop revolution in the U.S. market, where Silestone is only in about 4 percent of new and remodeled kitchens, said Ginés Navarro, who works in business development.
"The two most important markets for us are the United States and Spain," said Navarro, seated near the Silestone tabletop in his office. "The United States market is seven to eight times the market of Spain. I do see a lot of possibility still."
Already the United States, one of 50 nations where Cosentino does business, accounted for more than half of its more than $500 million in 2006 sales.
Since 1998
Cosentino began courting the market in 1998 when it created the C&C North America affiliate in Minneapolis.
Two years later, Cosentino moved its U.S. headquarters to Stafford, where its distribution facility is filled with Silestone slabs in more than 50 colors, including Brazilian brown, one of the most popular colors in this market.
Workers at its fabrication facility in Houston cut and polish slabs according to customer orders.
Every month, the Houston facility alone creates 1,200 Silestone countertops for installation in area kitchens.
C&C President and Chief Executive Officer Roberto Contreras Jr. once owned a
marble and quartz fabrication shop and began working with Silestone nearly a decade ago.
"I always thought it was a great material and that somebody was going to bring it to the United States and make it big," Contreras said.
He traveled to Spain and met with Cosentino officials, and he now owns half of Cosentino's North American business.
In the United States, C&C employs more than 1,000 people, almost a third of them in the Houston area.
The area was a better fit than Minnesota because of Houston's climate and nearby port and because Silestone is more popular in the South, Navarro said.
Hoping to boost its U.S. sales, Cosentino is investing $12 million in advertising this year, up from $9.3 million last year, C&C officials said.
Silestone advertisements in Houston include billboards, promotions at sporting events and plans to decorate bars at the Toyota Center with red and white Silestone.
In May, the company named Candice Olson, the host of HGTV's Divine Design, as its national spokeswoman.
Cosentino launched its U.S. advertising campaign during the 2005 Super Bowl, spending about $3 million on a television spot featuring sports stars, including former NBA player Dennis Rodman.
He sat in a bubble-filled Silestone tub and claimed to be Diana Pearl, the name of one of Silestone's countertop colors.
Diana Pearl is one of the least expensive colors, priced about $39 a square foot at a Houston-area Home Depot. Gray Amazon with a leather finish, one of the high-end colors, costs $65 a square foot.
Besides Silestone, countertop options for U.S. customers include laminate, as low as $33 a square foot at the Gulfgate Home Depot, and granite at up to $82.
The prices don't include installation.
Spring resident Jeff Bryant chose Silestone for his kitchen countertops when he had his home built two years ago.
"From what we read on it, it was as durable as granite, and it had a similar look and it was less expensive," he said.
In anticipation of more such customers, Consentino is adding more U.S. warehouses and factories.
Still selling
marble
It also continues to sell
marble.
In Spain, its Cuellar division of artisans manufactures traditional
marble columns as well as giant tomatoes made of the region's red Alicante
marble, destined for a public works project in Spain's agriculture town of Nijar.
Despite these elaborate
marble projects, Silestone makes up more than 85 percent of Cosentino's sales these days.
Cosentino originally used
marble as the main ingredient of Silestone, but changed to quartz because it is harder and doesn't stain.
On a recent day at Spain's Cañailla-Jarales quarry,
marble glistened in the sun as worker Juan Jimenez used a jackhammer to cut smaller blocks from stone that had been sliced from the mountainside.
The quartz used in Silestone, imported from Brazil among other countries, is pulverized and then formed into slabs with the help of computerized machines inside the Cosentino factory in Macael.
Clemente Oliver-Torres, 21, a mason at the factory, recently polished the edges of a Silestone Dali White curved kitchen countertop — opting to work on the product of the future instead of following his father into the town's
marble quarries.
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 | | Marble | MARBLE: CHARACTERISTICS
This standard includes general information on the characteristics
and common uses of marble and identifies typical problems
associated with the material.
INTRODUCTION
Marble is an extremely hard, metamorphic stone composed of calcite
(CaCO3). It is formed as a result of the recrystallization of
limestone under the intense pressure and heat of geologic
processes. The effect of this process is the creation of a stone
with a very tight crystalline structure and small but definite
porosity. Because of its structure, marble can take a very high
polish and is a very popular decorative stone for architectural and
sculptural uses. The limited porosity of marble, especially
polished marble, makes it less vulnerable to the leaching effects
of water. Calcium carbonate, however, of which marble is composed,
is highly susceptible to attack by acidic agents. Marble is
readily dissolved by acids, even very dilute acids, however the
actual results of acidic exposure will vary with the nature of the
acid. Chlorides, nitrates, sulfates and other chemical compounds
react differently with marble and produce various by-products,
which have a wide range of solubility and impact on the durability
of marble. For this reason, it is always important to determine
the exact type of pollutants causing marble deterioration.
Marble itself can be of two types, one composed of calcite and the
other of dolomite. Dolomitic marble is much more resistant to acid
attack than calcite marble. The color of marble ranges from the
brilliant white of calcite to black, including blue-gray, red,
yellow and green, depending upon the mineral composition.
TYPICAL USES
Marble has many decorative and structural uses. It is used for
outdoor sculpture as well as for sculpture bases; in architecture
it is used in exterior walls and veneers, flooring, decorative
features, stairways and walkways. The way in which the stone is
used may be a factor in limiting or controlling the severity of
exposure. The use or function of the marble may also affect the
feasibility of applying certain treatments, but type of use is not
the primary factor in the major types of deterioration and damage
to which marble is susceptible. | |  |
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