Questions & Answers

Automatic translation at the top right of this web page under “Select Language“

What?
The STONE FINDER (StonF) https://www.stone-ideas.com/stone-finder/ is a b2c-
database in which end-users, i.e., architects, designers, sculptors, and private individuals
search for natural stones.
It is international and also independent, so it goes beyond the limited offer of national
associations and individual companies.
The aim is to provide the end-users with the quickest and most comprehensive overview
of the material’s wealth of colors and textures and thus whet the appetites for natural stone.
We want our readers to fall in love with stone.

Background in theory: Today’s customer desires a large variety in products, materials etc.
For stone that means: the more different stone types are available on the markets, the more
stone will sell in general.
Or, in a historic comparison: the idea of the automobile became such a success because
you can find the right car for any taste, any need or any purse (and of course, just to tell
the full story: the automobile also sells so well because it perfectly meets the customers‘
needs).
StonF is the only tool that has its focus on the variety of stone worldwide.
It is not an e-market.

Costs?
Entries are free , both for the quarriers who put their stones in the
database and for the consumers who search the database.
There is no registration, no membership, no other obligation…
The STONE FINDER wants to make it as easy as possible for the consumer
to get an overview of the natural stones to his taste.
Later, when the set-up phase is over, we will charge for NEW entries.

Who?
Only quarriers may add their stones to the database or fabricators with exclusive
access to a quarry, respectively.
Traders may only present themselves with advertisements.
With this, we point out a special feature of the stone sector: the companies
are manufactories, where all work steps are in one hand – from the extraction of the
raw material to the processing and often also to the installation.
This structure gives important benefits to the stone company’s customers
compared to suppliers of other materials.
Thus, StonF not only provides an overview of stone types but also
helps to find companies with high-quality standards.

How?
If you want to enter a stone in the database, you must fill in a form with the required
information. We will send it to you on request (Peter BECKER, Mail).
The information from the form will later be the search criteria and descriptions (see webpage).
Please note: Only stones that are available on the market may be entered
(the database is not addressed to geologists or restorers). That also means: at the
beginning of each year, we will send a mail to the participating quarriers
and ask if their stone is still available.

Scope:
The information in StonF must remain brief and to the point.
It provides only basic information about the stones. To get comprehensive information,
interested parties should go to the linked web pages of the quarry companies.
This means that photos play the decisive role in StonF – good
pictures make people want to see the stone.
Therefore, we may reject bad pictures.

How is StonF financed?
Through advertisements that interested parties can place, e.g. traders or companies
offering technical, chemical, maintenance services…

How can readers remember stones they like?
In every internet program (browser) there is a tab “Bookmarks“ in the top menu.
Click that and save there the page with the stone you liked.
Thus, this information remains with you – we do not collect data about the users.

State of the Art:
At the moment (October 2022) StonF is still under construction.
As soon as we have reached a “critical“number of entries, we will promote it to our
target groups:
* architects and designers: we have excellent contac into those scenes because we
have been reporting on their topics for 15 years. Please see
https://www.stone-ideas.com/category/english/architecture/stone-architecture/ and
https://www.stone-ideas.com/category/english/design/natural-stone-design/;
* private individuals are reached via social media;
* since StonF is a service on the webpage of Stone-Ideas.com,
it benefits from the traffic there. At the moment, Stone-Ideas.com has about 25,000 readers
per month from all over the world.

Contact: Peter BECKER, Mail