With quartz surfaces, U.S. import numbers and sales figures – when available – show a multi-year pattern of double-digit growth. Brand and color selection gets larger, spurred by the white-kitchen trend.
The cheery waves of good news come with a troubling undertow, however. For two decades, most of the sales and production channel for quartz surfaces has been tightly controlled by a small number of manufacturers. In the past two years, though, unbranded and private-label products – mainly from China – now amount to nearly half the imports of the material … with no sign of slowdown.
And, the selling points made by quartz-surface makers in comparison to natural stone – color consistency and low-maintenance – are also the hallmarks of a slew of new-product arrivals on the hard-surface scene, including supersheets of thin porcelain tile and ultra-compact/sintered materials.
To get some perspective, Stone Update Magazine Editor/Publisher Emerson Schwartzkopf spoke with a number of leaders and long-time observers of the quartz-surfaces market:
- Massimo Ballucchi, director of marketing at Cosentino North America, producers of Silestone® quartz surfaces and Dekton® ultra-compact surfaces.
- Steve Becker, vice president of sales and marketing at Hanwha L&C USA, producer of HanStone® quartz surfaces.
- Nick Harris, vice president of marketing at Caesarstone U.S.
- Summer Kath, senior vice president of business development at Cambria.
- Scott MacLeod, CEO, Diresco USA Quartz Surfaces.
- Jason Nottestad, a former columnist for Stone Business Magazine and frequent visitor to quartz-surface production facilities in China.
- Brad Place, CEO of Technistone USA.
- Rupesh “Rup” Shah, president of M S International Inc.
White/Marble Look: Just a Fashion, or a Long-Term Trend?
NICK HARRIS: We see whites being a very long trend. The big (white) kitchen island has become such a statement piece for a lot of new homeowners and a lot of people I think that’s all tempered with higher expectations of performance and livability that go along with those whites, so from a quartz perspective, we think that quartz is absolutely right in that perfect sweet spot as the trend continues.
MASSIMO BALLUCCHI: It kind of goes with what’s happening in our social lives, we have a very busy work life and we’re trying to find some calm coming home. The white instigates that calmness. With the marble-like look, we’re looking into bringing natural things inside our home, and that to me, that’s something that will also continue to grow.
JASON NOTTESTAD: I don’t think it’s going away any time soon, to be honest with you, but I do think that … that’s all that people have right now. Everybody’s at exactly the same place in the design palette. I think that’s where there’s probably going to be some more opportunities in the future for the product.
RUP SHAH: Marble-looking quartz kitchen countertops certainly have mass-market appeal and are here to stay. Whites and grays continue to dominate consumer preference, and we expect that to continue for the foreseeable future.
Of course, we remember the days over a decade ago when everything was beige and brown. There will be a day when these white looks become outdated and replaced by a new design trend, but we believe we are several years away from that.
SUMMER KATH: If you look at our top-10 selling designs, they are all in the whites. That has been very strong now for two years. It’s been building. I don’t think it’s going to peak out and go away. I think it’s going to continue to be strong.
When people invest in a stone countertop, which is going to be a $10,000 to $15,000 investment on average, they are looking for something that they are going to love forever because quartz can last forever if you want it to. What I see changing is just the environment around it.
You’re starting to see matte black cabinets, navy cabinets; you’re seeing the gray era coming in cabinets and wood finishes. Now gold accessories are starting to come in, but all those things still are amazing with a white countertop.
BRAD PLACE: I think these clean, less-cluttered trends are becoming more popular in the United States, and this gives more options than just white. I think that a lot of the reason why people are using white now is because they have a big kitchen, but it’s very busy. It’s full before they even start, and so they use white to make actually look larger, which is kind of strange to me.
SCOTT MacLEOD: I’ve already heard from architects and designers who’ve said that if they have to do one more white quartz kitchen, they’re going to put one of their eyes out. Our product is coming from Europe, and there I’m seeing more of greys and neutral colors coming in with more of a modern, contemporary look.
And White/Marble in the Commercial Market?
NOTTESTAD: It’s definitely still more of a residential thing. I don’t think that that marble look, on the quartz side, goes particularly well with many of the commercial settings that you associate with a white product like that.
KATH: You look at workspace environments. One trend that I’m seeing is making your work space feel more like a home. And therefore, it’s going to follow residential trends, right? So that’s one thing. In hospitality, you are all over the board because it just depends on the environment someone’s trying to create.
BALLUCCHI: White will have a very strong commercial appeal. Because of the cleanability of it, we see a lot of the food preparation happening on it; that will definitely expand into the more commercial finish, too. We’ve done a lot of jobs commercially using white colors and countertops, big time.
HARRIS: We see it moving a little bit into the commercial market as well – mostly housing. You’re seeing it in some hospitality as well, although I think hospitality tends to be a lot more expressive and perhaps adventurous in common areas when it comes to surfaces and colors. But, definitely in the housing segment and multi-unit, we’re seeing that trend of very crisp, clean, modern kitchens really, really moving quickly. Everybody wants that beautiful, pristine, waterfall white big island.
The Rush of Chinese Imports
STEVE BECKER: The Chinese products vary greatly from stuff that people make in their basement by hand, to product that’s almost as good as from the Breton line, because they re-engineered the Breton. There is some decent Chinese product, but its cost-point is almost to where the legitimate products are.
I see it being like a circle-of-life kind of thing. Some of these really big buyers out there, people that have had the wherewithal and the resources to buy from China for a long time, seem to almost to be wanting to get out of it, because they’re seeing the product’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I’d rather have a reliable supply chain and not put my business at risk.
MacLEOD: There’s all this product coming into the country, but you have to ask yourself: Just what’s in in it? We don’t know.
I talked to a guy who recently brought in a container from China of quartz slabs. I had him get out the bill of lading and compare it with one of my containers from Diresco. Same slab thickness and size. I showed 85 slabs right at weight. He showed 93 slabs, and his container was underweight. As I say, you just don’t know what’s in this stuff.
KATH: They do knock us off. We know that. That’s why we have to continue to push forward with our innovation and just not stop. But we also need to reinforce the quality of our product, of what’s in it.
At this point, there is no barometer or governing body that says what the composition needs to be in a quartz countertop to make it quartz. We believe that some of those things coming in are of lesser performance, and so we try to educate. When you buy Cambria, you are buying a product that is everlasting, that is the integrity of what we say it has, and the experience that comes with it because of the channels that we go through to meticulously make sure that the quality of service is there as well.
NOTTESTAD: I think everybody knows that what’s going to happen with the Chinese quartz industry; it’s the same thing that happened with solid surface, is that you can only go so far making product for other people without having your own brand.
We’re at the point now where there’s a lot of OEM brands out there, All of the large distributors have brands at this point, so I think you’re going to see a limited number of new brands enter the marketplace, We’re always looking for a new look, a tweak on an existing look, something like that.
SHAH: For quartz in particular, we have counted over 100 brands currently in the market with new ones showing up every week.
HARRIS: A lot of the newer brands that are showing up, where will they be three to five years from now? We know we’ll be around. We’ve been around 30 years, so we’ll be around another 30 years.
BALLUCCHI: We need to talk about the service of it. Because in America, without service, you cannot have a good business role. So with 46 centers in Canada and the United States, and with our hubs of major distribution centers coming from Houston, Virginia and all around, we definitely have a strong service level. And we have a long 25-year, transferable warranty on our product.
The Status of the Fabricator in Today’s Quartz Market
PLACE: Fabricators and their installation teams will always be the pivotal people. The customer has so many choices of materials, colors, applications and things they can choose from; you also need to have partners with good kitchen and bath showrooms.
I don’t want to eliminate showrooms from the picture because they are very important, but the fabricators are critically important. because it’s their work that’s going to really decide how beautiful this looks when it’s finished.
SHAH: For MSI, we believe the fabricators are a distinct driving force in the sales-to-install chain. They have tremendous relationships that are critical to the ultimate purchasing decisions.
Our salesforce listens carefully to their needs and wants and ultimately delivers a program that we hope will allow them to grow their business. There are so many iterations based on the situation. This approach has been absolutely critical in the growth of our quartz business.
BALLUCCHI: We associate with the leader fabricators. We call them loyalty fabricators, which they receive marketing promotions and they’re the first ones to receive our products. And they’re ambassadors pretty much of the Cosentino brand out there in the fabrication world.
We really like them because they’re like the turnkey solution to any fabrication need. They can do cut-to-size projects, they can do so many residential and commercial developments So we definitely have a very strong association with them.
HARRIS: We look at the fabricators as like the lifeblood of our go-to market, quite frankly. They do have high degree of influence on the sale. We certainly always want, from Caesarstone’s perspective, for fabricators to enjoy working with our materials, They’re part of our value chain. They’re doing largely a lot of the manufacturing and installation. They’re the ones doing a lot of the creativity, quite frankly.
As designs become more intricate, as surfaces become perhaps more complex, the really great fabricators will continue to be challenged with those things. Those who evolve along with the evolving industry will do very, very well.
We look at them, certainly from a quartz perspective, as partners. We hope we make beautiful, wonderful products that they love working with, and in many cases fabricators can take us to places that we simply can’t get to as a company, as a brand.
BECKER: Fabricators in this market have kind of viewed major brands sometimes with a really wary eye, because of the fact that they dealt with people who have come in and say, “We’re going to do things our particular way,” and then it doesn’t work out.
Now, brands are coming in and they’re saying, “Hi, this is who we are, and this is the product that we have, and we want to start building more of a relationship.” We’re seeing that more with some of the super fabricators, or the people who are getting more into the cooperative type of things, such as the Artisan Group or the Rockhead Group.
The Effect of New Surfaces on Quartz Today
KATH: You know, with the porcelain we don’t think so. We feel it is truly a different market. It’s not residential. You can’t put an edge on it. You have to have a mitered edge. And it’s ping-y. Like when you knock on it, it’s not stone.
HARRIS: We’re definitely looking at these other categories, and we don’t believe they’ll be having a really detrimental effect on the overall growth and penetration of quartz, particularly here in the United States. If anything, we believe it might actually bring a little more focus and choice to the category, which thankfully we welcome.
We don’t ultimately believe yet that it will offer a significant challenge to the countertop category, but again, it’s one of those things we keep our eye on. Will it drive changes in how we go to market with quartz in terms of thinner formats and other things like that? Possibly, yes, so it is something that we’re very mindful of and watching.
NOTTESTAD: There’s going to be a limited countertop application for that. I don’t think that it’s going to cut into the quartz side, because we’re still 95% countertops. There’s some floor, there’s some wall cladding with quartz, but we’re still 95% countertops. I don’t think you’re actually going to see a huge effect there with the new products.
BALLUCCHI: We tend to bring Dekton® more into the architectural world. And that’s because of the technicality of it. Obviously, it’s an ultra-compact surface, so that has a couple of advantages. One is the outdoor use of it, and even a stronger commercial-area use.
We also created Dekton Grip and Grip Plus for flooring, which is an extremely anti-slip product, yet easy to clean. And we’re definitely differentiating with that too.
SHAH: In the short term, we don’t expect a major effect on quartz demand on the countertop market. Market acceptance of porcelain slabs will take several years as the number of installers increases and the product improves.
The biggest challenge for porcelain slabs to start taking market share away from quartz will be developing beautiful looking through body product. Right now, the vast majority of beautiful, authentic, marble looks are not through body.
PLACE: Twenty years ago, quartz was this new material in the marketplace and it took a lot of proactive people in the industry to really compete with granite. The granite guys wanted nothing to do with it. They were outraged. How can you possibly call this stone and install it some place.? It’s wrong. Never. Never. Never. But then a few people started to fabricate it and install it, and then it became a mainstay of the industry.
I think there’s always room for new, modern materials that can fill gaps. The problem is that I’m not 100% clear what is the real purpose of some of these materials. That’s my only problem with this whole thing. I just don’t know what they’re trying to solve.
The Evolution of Quartz Surfaces
SHAH: There is huge opportunity here. While it may appear quartz is mimicry, the greatest benefit of a manufactured product relative to natural stone is that you are not limited by nature. As such, some of our best colors are developed by MSI’s design team using inspiration from nature, but adjusting it to provide unique, on-trend designs.
The options are endless. In the end, only about 1%-2% of the designs we develop are taken to market. We have taken a similar approach with porcelain tile and it resulted in great consumer acceptance.
BECKER: I’ve been trying to coin the phrase “beyond the trend.” Our new production line in London, Ontario, with increased robotics, will really enable us to get creative with it, and that’s our goal: to become a color and patterns leader in the industry.
Instead of trying to replicate competitors’ products, we’re trying to replicate precious stones, exotic granites, limestones, the quartzites — the things that are really different.
MacLEOD: We’ve put a lot into making the product different, like our Velvet non-reflective surface, which really fits with a lot of the direct architectural lighting that’s going into kitchens. There’s also our BIO-UV technology, where we have an environmentally sound resin for the binder and also tension-free surfaces for more resistance to cracking and more mechanical strength.
BALLUCCHI: I think finishes are going to be very important, and we’ll see probably more of three-dimensional, suede-like finishes throughout. I can see a growth in that.
We have a very strong success with our Eternal series, which are the marble looks. And we’re going to be expanding on it, because right now this is what the market is requesting. The big trend of what we’re talking about, the popularity of marble-like products, bringing something natural-looking to your home.
We are doing other developments, looking more into the cement world, the more metallic type of world. But we are at prototype levels now. We’ll see a continuous evolving of products.
HARRIS: I think we’ll continue to see companies take quartz to places where people now think, “Wow, I wish this was available in quartz,” or “I wish a weathered, distressed wood look was now available in quartz.” I think you’ll see development there.
It’s part of our longer-term development to expand quartz into other looks that again give high value back to the consumer, to the space owner. It’s important to us that people still understand that quartz is a performance surface, and we’re looking to bring hopefully some things out there that will be very uniquely quartz and certainly uniquely Caesarstone. Watch the space, I think, is the caption on that one.
KATH: You will see something that nobody else has coming in the near future from Cambria. By early next year; possibly quicker. Something that I’ve not seen in quartz Inspired by nature, but … we can do things that you don’t even find in nature. It’s like a twist on it.
And not marble. We got plenty of those, right? The market is flooded in that area.