Cosentino’s Sensa range is featured in townhouses located in the Melbourne suburb of Caufield. They have been designed to appeal to a broad market. This residential development in Caulfield (VIC) comprises two townhouses that were built to be sold to unknown buyers. As a result, they needed to appeal to as many people as possible, [...]

The marble kitchen bench in a Melbourne apartment looked destined to be a write off. The tenant had been cleaning it with harsh chemicals, used it as a cutting board and hadn’t bothered to wipe up any acidic liquid spills like lemon juice or vinegar. So the once flawless surface was now a dull sheen [...]

Need to know if the new stone tile, paver or existing installation is already effectively sealed, partially sealed or not sealed? Or whether it can be sealed at all? Determining if a stone is sealed is an important question which must be answered prior to considering the application of a new sealer treatment. Realising if [...]

By Joe Simpson Ongoing research and development has been driving the evolution of sealants, adhesives, grouts, and after-care products for the stone industry. These technical advances, mostly incremental but with the occasional step-change, seek to address on-site issues such as speed of installation, challenging substrates, sound reduction, grout haze, and coping with movement. At the [...]

Gallaria is a Sydney based company that manufactures a number of marble product lines. It says it can literally create any design from marble, which is where the collaboration process with its designers starts. It has also launched its own brand called Mamo, which houses a collection of ready to order marble basins, baths and [...]

Specialists in stone and tile care, Stone Doctor has expanded its business and launched a consultancy service called Stone Consultants Australia. Founder and principal consultant Simon Gabriel believes consumers of natural stone face common, recurring issues relating to selecting, procuring, fabricating, installing and maintaining these surfaces. For example, incorrect decisions resulting from inaccurate advice resulting [...]

Discovering Stone’s machinery editor, Phil Ashley attended the opening of Biesse Group’s Sydney campus. Biesse Group refers to its Australian showroom that opened in Wetherill Park in Sydney’s western suburbs recently, as a campus because it is considered a place of learning. Much more than a traditional showroom, the Sydney campus is a training facility [...]

The popularity of hand-made, artisanal crafts has seen renewed interest in the use of semi-precious stones as surface finishes for walls, benchtops, splashbacks and vanities. Caesarstone has a range where slices of agate, quartz, amethyst and even petrified wood are hand-cut and bound to produce strikingly different surfaces, some of which can be backlit to [...]

Lighter, muted palettes are slowly making way for a bold trend in kitchen design that promises to take the drama up by a notch – black kitchens. Using black in the heart of homes infuses a sense of mystery in the space. As a darker colour, it’s also easier to clean and maintain, making it [...]