Thin Excuse
By Emerson Schwartzkopf
There’s a motto for many in our trade: Friends don’t let friends buy laminate.
And, before all of you and the world, I must confess that I have failed.
Category: Spall
On To The Teens
When it comes to 2009, nearly all of us in the stone trade can agree on one thing: It couldn’t end fast enough.
The Color of … What?
It’s fascinating to see anything – a seedling, a rainstorm, a San Diego Chargers winning streak – manifest itself out of virtually nowhere. It’s exciting to be part of a vibrant, growing product or movement.
It’s also distressing to be left out, and watching everyone else head for the party and the open bar. Every bad memory of high school comes back, as you’re not part of the in crowd.
Picturing Protection
Every month, I review a couple hundred photos for illustrating articles, columns and other items in Stone Business. And, without fail, I end up with a electronic reject pile of images I can’t use.
Don’t Make Me an Offer
At some point, everyone comes across an opportunity so good that it fits that immortal advertising catchphrase: It’s a steal of a deal.
Unfortunately, that’s a concept moving from hype to reality for more than a few stone shops. Occasionally, I’ll get a call from someone offering a long, oft-convoluted tale of a fantastic purchase or partnership that couldn’t miss, and yet ….
Is Your Granite Safe?
So, which answer do you want to give someone? The political one? The legal one? Or the honest one?
Look Us Up
Monthly columns that give rave descriptions of the articles in an issue are the refuges of lazy editors – after all, that’s the job of the table of contents. Other bits of self-promotion, to me, always look a bit goofy.
Spall: Mistake in Identity?
Decades ago, in the heyday of National Lampoon, then-editor P.J. O’Rourke ran a feature called “What’s Your Sign?” Unlike the fictional humor in the rest of the magazine, the feature offered a page of reader-supplied photos of business signs from real life – because a room of comedians couldn’t think of that much good stuff in a year, let alone a month.
It’s a Small(er) World
NUREMBERG, Germany – Stone+tec is a trade event that doesn’t exactly run a direct pipeline of goods to the United States. And I’ll beat you to the question you’re likely to ask: Why am I here?
Take the Stand
CHICAGO – When I returned to my hotel room after the first day of Coverings 2009, I found a dozen emails in my Inbox, all asking the same question: “How’s the show going?”