Nine international guests will come to Brazil to accompplish an agenda visiting ornamental stones companies, and attending the Vitoria Stone Fair, the largest fair of the segment in the Americas, which will take place from February 7th to 10th, in Espírito Santo. Our guests is coming at the invitation of It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone, a sectorial project which it encourages the exports of natural stones from Brazil, conducted by the Brazilian Center of Natural Stone Exporters (Centrorochas), in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).
The visit expects results by publicizing the productive arrangement in reports and social media posts in the guests’ home countries, and producing a greater demand for Brazilian stone sector in construction and projects from the international market. “This demand is part of the Image and Designer in Brazil Projects and it combines to the segment internationalization actions that have been carried out by the sectorial project abroad,” explained the manager of It’s Natural, Rogério Ribeiro.
The group is composed of six architects and designers, and four journalists from six countries (USA, Italy, Germany, UK, Spain, and Argentina).
Arrive from the United States, Craig Copeland and Samuele Sordi (Pininfarina). Craig Copeland is an artist, architect, designer, and director of the Pelli Clarke & Partners studio in New York. His experience spans many different fields, but his passion is the element that connects all his work with stones. He is an award-winning sculptor with a focus on monumental sculpture. Samuele Sordi, is a chief architect officer of Pininfarina of America. Many of his works has been directed with his team who have received notable awards, such as the control tower of the new Istanbul airport.
Raffaello Galiotto, Federico Ferrarini and Jesusleny Gomes will come from Italy. Galiotto is a main reference when it comes to architecture, design and technology in the stone sector. Interested in materials and technology, he has developed a particular knowledge of production processes, characterizing projects with experiments and new solutions. His approach aims to enhance the specific qualities of each material. The artist Federico Ferrarini has international fame and has had his works exhibited in several places, among them, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome. He began his artistic career in painting using natural hues extracted from quarries and mineral pigments. His conceptual research of materials led him to the encounter of ornamental stone. Jesusleny Gomes is a Brazilian based in Italy who works as international public relations.
From Germany, Hermann Graser and Reiner Krug arrive. Graser has been in all areas of natural stone in the course of his professional training: he is a master craftsman, technician and restorer in the crafts of stonemasonry and stone sculpture. For almost 15 years he has been managing the family business together with his brother. He is also a member of the management board and technical committee of DNV (German Natural Stone Federation). Reiner Krug is CEO of DNV and presented, at the 2016 edition of the Vitoria Stone Fair, a study that detected that the use of natural stone is more sustainable than other materials.
From Argentina comes Luciano Scuseria, architect at BMA Arquitetos e Associados. Simon Chan is also joining the group, a journalist from segmented magazine, from United Kingdom, of the international stone sector.
About It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone
The It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone is an export incentive program developed by the Brazilian Center of Natural Stones Exporters (Centrorochas) in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil). The program aims to stimulate and increase the exports of Brazilian natural stones, through a set of strategic actions for internationalization with promotional activities, strengthening the image and development of the sector in the market worldwide.
About Centrorochas
The Brazilian Center of Natural Stones Exporters acts directly on the procedures related to the presence of Brazilian businesspeople abroad combined with commercial and operational activities related to the development and evolution of Brazilian companies.
About ApexBrasil
ApexBrasil works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. In order to achieve these objectives, the Agency carries out diversified trade promotion actions aiming at promoting exports and enhancing the value of Brazilian products and services abroad, such as prospective and trade missions, business rounds, supporting the participation of Brazilian companies in major international fairs, visits of foreign buyers and opinion leaders to be introduced to the Brazilian productive structure, among other business platforms that also aim at strengthening the Brazil brand.
