Stonemasonry to be a Star

July 2013
A British television production company called Ricochet is looking for someone learning or enthusiastic about stonemasonry to be a star in a new series it is intending to make that celebrates traditional and contemporary crafts – including stonemasonry.
The company is looking for someone of any age who has some competency in stonemasonry but is still learning the craft.
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2013/07/29/wanted-a-stone-enthusiast-to-become-a-tv-star/

Creatures Great and Small

July 2013
Let us take a moment to philosophize about Creatures Great and Small and God Above: the question is: is it easier for a person to go his way if he knows from the very beginning, where the road will take him? Or is it perhaps even more difficult for him than for someone who can take whatever comes his way?
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2013/07/05/once-an-artist-always-an-artist/

Natural Universe

(July 2013) In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn’s rings and planet Earth (arrow) in the same frame. The distance from Cassini’s orbit to the Earth is approximately 898.414 million miles (1.445858 billion kilometers).
The Sun is hidden behind Saturn on the left. The dark side of Saturn, its bright limb, the main rings F, G and E are clearly seen.

http://www.stone-ideas.com/2013/07/29/earth-seen-from-behind-saturn/http://www.stone-ideas.com/2013/07/29/earth-seen-from-behind-saturn/

the Precious Stone.

In darkness languishes the precious stone.When will its excellence enchant the world? When seeming is taken for being, being becomes seeming. When nothing is taken for something, something becomes nothing.The Stone dispels seeming and nothing, And climbs to the Gates of the Great Void.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_the_Stone_(Barry_Hughart)

The Most of the Stones, Beauty

A Marble Institute of America (MIA) press release divulges information on the best arguments for natural stone: statistics show that a text elaborating on the beauty and durability of granite as the material of choice for kitchen countertops was printed amazingly often in the US-press. As a rule, articles of this sort are reprinted 100 – 400 times. In the case of granite countertops the score reached 2880.http://www.marble-institute.com/pressroom/pr020612.cfmA

the Sidra Tree

The Sidra tree, growing strong and proud in the harshest of environments, has been a symbol of perseverance and nourishment across the borders of the Arab world. What is the significance of this glorious tree? With its roots bound in the soil of this world and its branches reaching upwards toward perfection, it is a symbol of solidarity and determination; it reminds us that goals of this world are not incompatible with the goals of the spirit."

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser
Qatar Foundation Chairperson, at the inauguration of Education City, 13 October 2003

http://www.qatarconvention.com/

I entered the grandpa's old factory alone...

I entered the grandpa's old factory alone.
All the old machines were in place. All the belts likewise. The cotton on the walls still stuck on the stone. High in the sky the trapdoor let a sunray shine through a hole of the roof. I am alone in the dark corridor of the factory and I am walking past the old machinery. I am measuring the dimensions of the narrow corridors just as I  used to do when I was a child. Grandpa was holding me by the hand and blocking my free access somewhere...."no that way! Are you listening to me? this way! Are  you listening to me? And never go alone!".... I hear his voice in my ears mixed with the non-stopping noise of the machines.
http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/challenges/τhe-cotton-gin-of-lower-tithorea-at-grandpa-s-old-factory-id7662

Sculptural Water Forms

Trifold Madang is an entry for the Busan Opera House competition, by IwamotoScott Architecture, which addresses the sponsors’ aim to create a new icon of the North Port area, establishing an international gateway while fostering maritime tourism for the new Maritime Culture District. Their design tries to significantly dramatize the experience of going to the opera. The sculptural form at the water edge maximizes the connection between the city, the water and the surrounding landscape.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/trifold-madang-evokes-the-memory-of-the-traditional-korean-opera-iwamotoscott-architecture/

619 Data Center Facilities

The “data center city” project designed by SO/AP was produced for the Unbuilt Vision competition, and was presented for Design Week at the University Art Museum of Louisiana.
The concept tries to analyze the physical impact of NTICs on our territory and especially our relationship to the city. Today there are nearly 619 data center facilities in 33 countries in the world. These places generate a new geography of virtual media. As a new territo
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/data-center-city-concept-for-europes-online-identity/

The Story of Mankind

...For us marble workers, we take this so much for granted that we even sometimes forget this,
but we must not forget how the material we work with is perceived by the observer, by the person who uses it and wears it down stone is the noble material par excellence. But this is because it deserves to be, since it has accompanied mankind in his long history.

Stone has earned its nobility, because within it lies the story of mankind, along with its own.
http://blog.lithosdesign.com/why-natural-stone-is-a-noble-material/

the Aurora Borealis

Siivet aurora, the Aurora Borealis Arctic Observatory is an architectural project situated in argument between the historic mystic of the northern lights and the urban landmark of Rovaniemi. This proposal by designers Jensen Liu and Sally Hsu explores the awakening moment of the Eos (the goddess of dawn), enhancing a natural phenomenon that continues to amaze audiences.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/aurora-borealis-arctic-observatory-the-wings-of-the-dawn-goddess/

where Statistics are...

The stone industry started much the same way all over the world and, often, still continues that same way. A laborer stumbles across some stone in a field, starts to quarry the stone and a business is born.
http://www.marble-institute.com/blog/post.cfm/the-case-for-statistics-in-the-stone-industry

House in Monasterios

The house is located in an elevated area, from which it dominates a hillside leading down to the sea. This view marks the direction the walls will take and, in an abstract form, define the project.
The house is structured as a compaction of volumes of varying heights, and the form established by the main walls.
The articulating space volume of this sequence is obtained from opening courts and patios in the central space of the house. A series of open courtyards are formed, covered in its perimeter like an atrium, in search of the access to the house, obtaining different perceptions of the house.
http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/residents-projects/house-in-monasterios-id7628

Contemporary Cinema

Designed by Amir Mikhaeil, the new Center for Contemporary Cinema, situated on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Virgil Avenue in Los Angeles, is neither a multiplex nor a museum – it aims to be a new manifold for projection of film and new media within the city. This inspiring design, awarded H.I.Feldman Prize at Yale, has its roots in Tarkovsky’s representation of time in cinema and the Deleuzian conception of the time-image which is not reliant on the linear progression of movement through film, therefore the project disrupts the continuous urban narrative structure of the boulevard.
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/new-center-for-contemporary-cinema/

Environmental Perspectives

In the past 15-20 years, the business of quarrying has improved enormously from an environmental perspective. Domestic quarries today are required to comply with strict guidelines and are monitored by MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) among others.
http://www.marble-institute.com/consumers/sustainable_natural_stone.cfm

Aristotle Square, Ecological

The objective of this project is the design of an ecological info point at Aristotle Square of Thessaloniki, Greece. The specific location gathers thousands of visitors on an everyday basis and this pavilion is intended to keep them aware of environmental issues.
http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/workshops/sphere-cal-ecological-info-point-id7534

Students: Kargiou Irene, Mirtsopoulos Ioannis, Papasotiriou Flora
Supervisors: Axarli Klio, Voyatzaki Maria, Tzekakis Emmanouil
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Faculty of Engineering, School of Architecture

Stone has always existed...

One of the things my father taught me,
 and which he repeated to me constantly, was:
“Stone has always existed,
 man has always used it and shall never cease to use it.”
I believe this is true, despite the fact that the latest-generation materials
 leads us to believe that a durable material
 should have an unvarying long life.
 Why do I believe this? History proves this.http://blog.lithosdesign.com/should-a-durable-material-be-inalterable-in-time/

Marble as History as Heritage

Archaeological Museum Thessaloniki
Video Presentation
http://www.amth.gr/index.php/video-presentation-amth-english.html

Eternal Learning

In addition to visiting the many stone events on the “Spring Trade Show Circuit” so far this year — Las Vegas, Brazil, Atlanta, etc. — I took some time last month to travel to Salt Lake City, UT, for the Utah Stone Summit, which is an edition of the Marble Institute of America/Stone World Industry Education Series. I hadn’t attended one of these since last fall, so it was time to see what was new. The answer was simple: everything. These events are not simply a matter of sitting through a presentation, but rather, they are an interactive series where fabricators of all sizes and experience levels network and learn from one another. As such, each event offers a completely new experience for attendees.
http://www.stoneworld.com/articles/87567-dont-ever-stop-learning
NEXT
July 18 - Seattle, WA
September 19 - Dallas, TX
October 17 - Atlanta, GA
November 7 - Pompano Beach, FL
For more information on these events, visit www.stoneindustryeducation.com, or if you want a first-hand account, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at michael@stoneworld.com. I will give you the inside scoop on what they are all about.

The Material comes Before, Always...

Dear God! how beauty varies in nature and art. In a woman the flesh must be like marble; in a statue the marble must be like flesh.
Victor Hugo
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/marble.html#UhUG7mDdUylh4Uff

The Eternal Curve of Human Wants

"Architecture is the simplest way of articulating the relation between space and time, to organize reality, to realize dreams, to achieve not only formal expressions of a temporal beauty, but a regulation that is engraved in the eternal curve of human wants and the achievements on the route to their realization" Guy Debord, Ιnternationalle Situationniste, The Overcome of Art, Documents before the establishing of S.I., G.Ioannidis (transl), Ypsilon, Athens, 1999
http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/architectural-review/the-philosophy-of-green-in-flows-id6088

I met an Angel, carved...

I thought stone was cold. I was wrong.
I thought it could only form slabs, with beautiful history and colours, but just slabs. I was wrong.
I thought that there were other natural materials with greater potential for warmth and empathy. I was forced to change my mind.
I drew towards natural stone for work.
http://www.lithosdesign.com/en_index.aspx

Art Room

(June 2013) „In Beccheria” that is an art room in the small street of the same name about 30 m from the Piazza Alberica in Carrara will be exhibited 16 works of 16 contemporary mosaic artists. Curator of the show from June, 28 until August, 04 is Enzo Tinarelli, professor at the Academy of fine Arts in Carrara and Ravenna.
http://www.stone-ideas.com/2013/06/15/musivamente-contemporary-mosaics/

Mystic Stones

Granite - Granite is an igneous rock, which means it was once molten and formed as it cooled deep
within the earth. Minerals within granite typically appear as small flecks throughout the stone, once
creating a “salt and pepper” look. Other types have veining similar to marble. Granite is a
densegrained, hard stone...
http://www.mysticgranite.com/news/images/mia/industry_term_definitions.pdf