Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “Veining in the Spotlight”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
A review focused on diverse materials such as sintered stone, marble, quartz, grès, or glass, but with a common characteristic: elegant veining, which in composites becomes the element to assimilate with natural stones. They can be in quartz, sintered stone, natural marble, grès, or glass, but all are concentrated on a single aesthetic aspect: highlighting the naturalness of the surface and its veining. These are the most fashionable materials for kitchen countertops, backsplashes, and cabinet fronts, offering great elegance while also being ultra-resistant and hygienic. The review presents a range of proposals, all different from each other, but united by the most varied patterns, belonging to the stone itself or faithfully recreated to mimic those existing in nature. The different proposals come from both surface manufacturers and kitchen brands.
LAPITEC
The elegant marble-look surface with delicate grey veins covers the fronts and countertop of the cooking island: this is the sintered stone from the Musa collection by Lapitec, in the Bianco Vittoria color finish, which here interprets a major innovation. This is Lapitec Chef, a completely invisible induction cooking system fully integrated within the sintered stone slab and activated by a technological silicone Cooking Mat, in the absence of which the cooktop and its controls remain inactive, safe, and impossible to turn on accidentally; the countertop thus returns to being a work surface, and the full beauty of the Lapitec sintered stone remains prominent, boasting high technical qualities, elegant design, and a 100% natural composition. In particular, the Musa collection – completely silica-free – enhances the technical properties of sintered stone with subtle contrasting veins and comes in three color variations: Bianco Elettra, Bianco Vittoria, and Bianco Aurora. The Musa collection is included in the prestigious ADI Design Index 2020.
QUARTZFORMS
The new Forest collection by Quartzforms® offers four high-impact, marble-effect textures inspired by nature: Sughero (Cork), Betulla (Birch), Garrigue, and Magnolia. In particular, the special texture Forest Magnolia stands out for its personality: on a fine-grained black/green background, long, diffuse white and green veins are distinguished. With reference to the magnolia plant, with its lush foliage of shiny, leathery leaves that hinder the passage of sunlight, appearing dark and impenetrable when viewed against the light. This image offered by nature is reproduced with absolute fidelity by the quartz agglomerate slabs, which are interrupted and illuminated by light white streaks, giving the surface a strong depth.
SAPIENSTONE
SapienStone: the grès surfaces of Il Veneziano series show a texture with tiny fragments of material.
MAISTRI E CAMBRIA
Grey, black, and white streaks, which furrow the surface like waves, characterize the backsplash and quartz countertop of the Altea kitchen, designed by Alberto Minotti, art director of the Asso brand. A decisive scenographic effect, therefore, intensified by the under-cabinet lighting, activatable with a hand wave. The innovative quartz inspired by river currents is the Oceanic Collection by Cambria, an American sector leader now also entered into the Italian and European market, which develops customized projects. Cambria offers lifetime-guaranteed products, available in over 180 patterns and a wide variety of tones, color depths, and shades, in glossy finish and Cambria Matte™ finish variants, NSF certified; the materials have a flexural strength of 6,800 psi, making them twice as strong as granite and three times stronger than marble; they have NSF-51 certification ensuring suitability for food contact. The Altea model is here presented with fronts in matte lacquer color Lava; it is distinguished by its strong aesthetic character which emphasizes the gaps between the fronts, making them the distinctive feature.
NEOLITH
The new Essentials series by Neolith® also includes the Sofia Cuprum 2021 model, a new version of Sofia Cuprum that now contains up to 90% recycled material in its composition. A fascinating dark and sober surface, the new surface expresses all the technological and sustainable progress of the Neolith® brand. Sofia Cuprum 2021 also includes the innovative antibacterial technology NeolEAT and is available in Steel Touch finish in 6 mm thickness, in 3200 x 1500 mm format, and in 12 and 20 mm thicknesses, in 3200 x 1600 mm format.
MODULNOVA
Modulnova: the double island of the new Blade Lab. Graphite Raw grey stone.
Source: Read the original article | Published: October 27, 2021