The Vitória Stone Fair took place in the stoneworking center of Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, from February 10 to 13, and despite difficulties on the worldwide economic front, the show remains a key event for the international stone trade. After a somewhat slow opening day, traffic on the trade show floor picked up as the event moved along, and exhibitors reported that they had quality meetings during the fair. The general consensus was that the visitors who came to the event "came for business," rather than a junket to Brazil.

Akemi Chemisch-Technische Spezialfabrik GmbH (Akemi GmbH), with the agreement and assistance of Akemi North America, Inc. (Akemi NA), has restructured its U.S. distribution, under which Akemi Germany will support domestic distribution and some U.S. manufacturing in the state of Georgia through:

HOLLIS, NH -- The Natural Stone Council (NSC), a collaborative organization representing business and trade associations that promote stone under the Genuine Stone™ brand, recently announced the availability of its first case study in a series of research-based documents highlighting the environmental advantages of natural stone. The case study, "Application of Green Building Certification Programs to Natural Stone," may be found on the NSC's Web site: http://www.genuinestone.com/env_researchandresults.php.

KNOXVILLE, TN -- VIC International Corp., a leading supplier of stone machinery, tools and accessories, has restructured its executive staff, including a move by founder Vic Green to Chairman of the Board. Green founded the company in 1978, and over the past 30 years has built VIC into a recognized leader in its markets.

A broad educational program featuring 17 extensive one- and two-day seminars across the U.S. will be offered by the Marble Institute of America (MIA), which is combining forces with Stone World magazine to deliver the best quality regional education program offered in the stone industry.

As this downturn/recession/depression (pick whichever term you like) wears on, we are hearing some ugly stories of fabrication shops closing down, but I recently heard one of the worst ones yet. The fabrication shop at issue is Rock Tops, which is based in Michigan and operated in several states, and they apparently ceased fabrication in late December of 2008.

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- National disaster recovery and reconstruction experts headline the first National Disaster Reconstruction Expo's (NDRExpo) conference program. The NDRExpo was developed to unite the numerous vertical markets associated with disaster preparation, response, recovery and rebuilding. The conference program reflects this diversity with a robust line-up of industry experts. NDRExpo launches June 17 to 18, 2009 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA.

GranQuartz of Tucker, GA, and Water Treatment Technologies (WTT) of Hampton, NH, have announced an exclusive North American partnership to market and distribute WTT's water filtration and recycling systems, which were developed exclusively for the stone industry.

Hollis, NH -- The Natural Stone Council (NSC), a collaborative organization representing business and trade associations that promote stone under the Genuine Stone™ brand, has announced the availability of its first case study in a series of research-based documents highlighting the environmental advantages of natural stone. The case study, "Application of Green Building Certification Programs to Natural Stone," may be found on the NSC's Web site: http://www.genuinestone.com/env_researchandresults.php.

While StonExpo served as a place for many dealers and fabricators to discuss new products and trends in the stone industry, for Nao Takahashi, President of Alpha Professional Tools, it was also a time to reflect and pay tribute to a well-known individual in the industry, Peter de Kok, President of GranQuartz. "After 39 years of dedicated service to GranQuartz, Peter will hand in his calculator and retire," Takahashi said.