Peter Becker, editor-in-chief of Stone-Ideas.com, believes that the industry must take environmental aspects more seriously and redefine luxury
“Re-Start” Project is the motto that Marmomac has given to this year’s edition (September 30 – October 03). As the organizer Veronafiere writes in a press release, the fair is now supposed to give the industry new impetus after Covid-19: all natural stone fairs have been cancelled since March this year, and at the end of September the spark for a new start finally shall come from Verona.
But: can a new start after the pandemic simply be a return to business as usual?
For example: may we continue to see luxury as pure waste? After all, many of the high-quality end products that the stone industry produces have been created in an unrestrained wastefulness – you take a large block of marble weighing several tons, peel off a small piece and simply throw the rest away.
This is the way Michelangelo did it, some might object. However, Michelangelo used it to create an enduring and living art that was and is appropriate to the material.
The stone industry is infinitely far away from this. In fact, it is not even its claim.
It should also be pointed out that the raw block mentioned above was made of a material many millions of years old, which is irretrievably lost when it is cut. The stone industry likes to stress this fact in its marketing – but then quickly forgets it again.
With the “Re-Start Project” Marmomac could bring the topic of sustainability into the industry in a new way.
The opportunity is more favorable than ever. Because: the stands at Marmomac this year will probably be very economical. There is a chance to show luxury without excess and noise – real luxury made in stone, so to speak.
Because with marble, granite and the other varieties, beauty is never a scream. It is a secret.
(29.06.2020, USA: 06.29.2020)