Stone-Ideas.com 
Austria presented its design at Milan Design Week 2024 in a show at Palazzo Confalonieri, organized by Advantage Austria. Furniture for home, bathroom, and office as well as accessories from 30 designers and companies were on display. We show some of the objects made of natural stone (German 1, 2).
The Italian geologist Paola Blasi, an expert on stones and markets who has been working in London for some time, recommends in the magazine “ApuoVersiliaProduce“ (April 2024) of the Cosmave association that suppliers to the United Kingdom should provide their stones with environmental certificates and information on the ecological footprint of the material (Italian).
The Chinese deep sea drilling ship Mengxiang (Dream) is on a special mission: to drill through the earth‘s crust to the outermost mantle at a depth of 6-7 km. Such depths have never been reached before.
Carrara rediscovers its Roman history and does so with the exhibition “Romana Marmora“ which tells stories of Emperors, Gods, and quarrymen, focusing on the Roman Bardiglio marble quarry of Fossacava (until January 12, 2025).
Rising sea levels will increase the mechanical pressure in the structure of tectonic plates and lead to changes in seismic cycles – with an increasing risk of earthquakes, particularly in coastal regions (German).
The Italian natural stone magazine “Marmomacchine“ has been sold to the publishing house Quine, which specializes in technical content and belongs to the LSWR Group. „Marmomacchine“ magazine is not to be confused with “Marmacchine International“ published by the Italian association Confindustria Marmomacchine. Both magazines go back to Angelo Marabelli, a doyen of Italy‘s stone sector: the one which has now been sold, was run by Marabelli‘s daughter Barbara (photo), who has reached retirement age, and the other by his son Flavio, who is honorary president of the association (1, 2).
Unesco has added 18 new Geoparks to its worldwide network of sites with special geological and cultural significance. This brings the total number of Geoparks to 213 in 48 countries.
The Circularity Gap Report published annually by the Circle Economy organization, provides an overview of the circular economy in countries around the world. The latest figures are sobering: in just five years, the proportion of secondary materials has fallen from 9.1% to 7.2%.
The pink “Eden Rose” diamond is the highlight of Christies‘s auction in New York City on June 11, 2024. It has 10.20 carats and is entirely flawless. Its value is estimated at nine to twelve million US-$.
A webpage presents 30 of the most stunning sand sculptures worldwide.
Video of the month: Etna volcano on Sicily in the Mediterranean blew out white smoke rings again. The so-called volcanic vortex rings are created by small explosions of gas bubbles in a narrow maw above a magma chamber of a newly formed crater. They rise far into the sky and paint unusual scenes in the blue, earning the mountain the nickname “Lady of the Rings. “
(06.06.2024)