News Briefs – Sept. 23, 2008

• Among the newest companies earning certification from the Marble Institute of America as Accredited Natural Stone Fabricators are Marble Emporium, Northbrook, Ill.; Innovative Surfaces, Hastings, Minn.; Ferazzoli Imports of New England, Middletown, Conn.; MARBLEX, Fairfax, Va.; Johnson Granite, Mt. Airy, N.C.; and Creative Countertops, Las Vegas.
• CCS Stone is now the exclusive supplier of Glassos™, a crystallized glass panel with 6.5 hardness and zero porosity, with a pure white finish resembling White Thassos marble. The Moonachie, N.J., company stocks the materials in tiles and slabs, and can be cut to size.
• Pietro Milani, the director of Walker Zanger’s Italian operations since 1971, received the Maestro del Lavoro (Master of Work) for the Stella al Merito del Lavoro (Medal for Excellence in a Profession) from the president of the Italian Republic in a May 8 ceremony in Florence. The title denotes that Milani is seen as one of the country’s most-respected workers in his industry; Milani’s been with the Sylmar, Calif., stone producer and distributor for nearly 40 years, and he began working with stone in Carrara quarries in 1956.