The Excel London – home to the Natural Stone Show 2019
The Natural Stone Show is the UK’s premier stone industry event. This year we really didn’t have time for many of to get along to this show, but Andy managed to pop in for a bit, and we thought we would put a few of his impressions into a blog. When it comes to all things granite and quartz worktops – and all things stone machinery – it’s hard to do better than the Natural Stone Show.
Acres of space… long empty aisles… a fair few slightly bored-looking Chinese people… and not an awful lot new to show. But there were a few things that drew the eye.
Intermac at the Stone Show
Two massive Intermac CNCs are our workhorses here at Affordable Granite, Surrey, so it is always interesting to see the latest that the Italian stone tool giant has to offer. The incredible accuracy and finely detail cutting on display may have little immediate kitchen worktop application, but it is lovely to see. This is actually tile-cutting technology, which is being used for the first time to cut ceramic worktop materials. Experimental, but impressive!
Global Quartz
Some of the smaller, or less well-known quartz worktop brands are getting more ambitious in their offering. We have tended to think of Global very much in terms of entry-level granular materials – suddenly they have sophisticated hyper-natural look materials on display. There is more than a hint of Cambria about some of them, and of Caesarstone about others. That is an issue that the industry needs to address…
Flex
Some interesting machinery was on show. This hand-held stone cutter from Flex is nearly exactly what we want – and certainly looks pretty serious – but we were really in the market for better polishing options – battery powered with some dust control, please! Nice looking piece of kit, though.
Caesarstone
There were not a lot of new quartz worktop materials on display. A number of Chinese companies were there, but fewer of the regulars than usual. It was good to see Caesarstone, who are at the heart of our featured special offer this month. They have a new white marble-look quartz worktop out – Empira White. Like so many, it looks better in a big slab than as a small sample, and is bang on the money in being REALLY white! We hope to blog about it properly in the near future.
… and a massive limestone chess set
We can’t offer this – but I liked it enough to photograph it! Amazing what can be done with current CNC technology.
We are Affordable Granite, the leading installer of granite and quartz worktops across Surrey, Sussex and the whole South East. We want to be up to date on trends, materials and technology – and getting to shows like the Natural Stone Show 2019 at the Excel is part of that. For advice, help or a quotation on your kitchen worktops,call us on 01293 863992 or contact by email on sales@affordablegranite.co.uk.
