Mar 14
2025

The European Stone Festival 2025 will be held May 24 and 25 in Halifax, in the heart of West Yorkshire, England. Apprentice and master stonemasons from all over Europe will compete against each other to create new works in just 2 days. This time, the topic is “Myths and Legends.“ 1999 saw the festival’s first issue in Freiburg, Germany.

A tunnel 12 m underground used to bring drugs from Morocco to the European enclave in Ceuta was discovered by the Spanish Guardia Civil. It was 50 m long on its European side and ended there in a former marble factory at an industrial site. We had reported about spectacular cases where natural stone was used for drug trafficking (1, 2).

KBIS (Kitchen and Bath) trade fair in Las Vegas had over 43,000 registered visitors, nearly 700 exhibitors, among them 270 international. For more fairs for Design and Lifestyles see our Calendar.

Turkish Ami Oglu Group has signed a 30-year contract worth US-$6.2 million with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum for quarrying processing marble at the Dara-e-Noor site in Kandahar
(1, 2).

The 2nd edition of the British Stone Federation‘s magazine “Natural Stone Journal” has been published. The main topic is “Modern Load-Bearing Stone Architecture.”

“It’s Natural” is the name of the campaign launched by the Brazilian association Centrorochas and the export organization Apex. A brochure for free download provides information on the country‘s natural stones and shows examples for their use in interior design.

Geoarchaeologist Per Storemyr has published a photo collection of grotesque beasts created by Tafoni Weathering on the south coast of Norway.

A 15th-century bust of a noblewoman forgotten in the Slowak National Museum in Levoča has been identified as the work of the leading Renaissance sculptor Donatello.

The Italian initiative Pietra Naturale Autentica (PNA) reveals the story that white Carrara marble plays in the film “The Brutalist.“

CER magazine (no 78, March 2025) is online. It is issued by the Italian ceramic industry’s association and describes the markets and the trends.
 

Video of the month: German TV Deutsche Welle has a report about Henraux’s production of exclusive white marble from the Monte Altissimo in the Apuan mountains near Carrara.