ENGINEERED STONE

Engineered stone, often referred to in the countertop industry as quartz, is a composite material made of crushed stone bound together by an adhesive. It has many different applications. In the case of counters, slabs are made from quartz crystals held together with a resin binder.

The process to engineer quartz countertops by pressing polymer resins into natural, raw quartz crystals was developed by the Italian company, Breton S.p.A, in the early 1960s. Today, Breton continues to be a leading supplier of engineered stone-making equipment. “Breton was first established in 1963 by Marcello Toncelli, who perceived the enormous potential in developing a market which was absolutely innovative and at the time practically unexplored: developing new technologies and manufacturing industrial plants for producing compound stone.”

Today, hundreds of different companies that utilise the Breton Technology such as Caesarstone, Silestone and our very own Brand Cicero continue to produce engineered stone slabs and promoting the materials around the world. Although the marketing power of the larger multinationals is huge the difference between the brands that utilise the Breton technology is minimal.

That said BE AWARE that not all engineered stone is created equally! Many companies have attempted to replicate the Breton Technology and the ingredients used to create the slabs are not to the standard Gitani Stone insist on when importing engineered stone slabs. Of course the brands we offer including our own Brand of Cicero utilise the right ingredients and are tried and tested therefore ensuring the performance is inline with our very high standards and expectations. The cheaper brands even some that may use the Breton Technology unfortunately is not to the standard that we expect and therefore we do not offer all brands (nor all colours within the major brands) for that reason.

When choosing Engineered stone through Gitani you can be assured that the quality of material and manufacturing process is second to none.