Speaking stones

After lying hidden in the mountains for millions of years, large blocks are cut out of the rock and transformed into elegant worktops. Their story lives on in the natural stones.

When visiting the warehouse belonging to Schwanekamp in Gescher, North Rhine-Westphalia, you can see rows and rows of “Silver Paradiso”, “Tropical Storm”, “Breccia Imperiale”, “Louise Blue” and “Macaibas Giotto” stone stacked up. The 11-millimetre-thick natural stone panels have certainly had a long journey. They come from quarries in Brazil, South Africa, Austria, Italy and, last but not least, Germany. Our planet is covered in a rock crust that is between 10 and 35 kilometres thick. The oceans and continents sit on top of this crust. These rock masses are the result of a cooling of the earth’s crust that happened between 500 and 800 million years ago. Minerals form the basis for the different stones when subjected to influences like pressure and heat. Quartzite and granite are very diverse in terms of their colour and structure, and they are acid, scratch and stain-resistant. These robust characteristics make them a much sought after material for kitchen worktops. At the moment, colourful stone is very popular. One thing all the different types of stone have in common is that they are naturally pure, authentic witnesses to the earth’s history – and absolutely unique.

[Translate to English:] Naturstein Lager

Stones that evoke emotions

In quarries, they are brought out into the light of day after million of years underground. Large blocks of rock are cut out either using diamond wire saw ropes or hundreds of drilled holes. You can still see the cutting marks and drilled holes when they reach the warehouse. The blocks, which weigh several tonnes, measure two by three by two metres when they start their journey to the special processors in Italy. They are then cut into panels before being sent on to Gescher.

Each natural stone worktop is a completely unique piece

Natural stone worktops are very popular at the moment. Due to their uniqueness, history and unusual appearance, they are inimitable. This is perfect for today’s consumers, as individuality and authenticity are in particularly high demand. As Jan Schwanekamp puts it: “The stone speaks to you. It tells a story that began over 350 million years ago. There was once a finished stone. The earth moved it, it broke apart and the lava that flowed out brought it back together. And then someone came along and cut chunks of it out of the mountain. We truly do associate emotions with lots of these types of materials.”

“People really feel that,” adds his sister Stefanie. “Often when customers come to the kitchen studio when there is a natural stone worktop on show, they make a beeline straight to it. They can feel the high quality of the material, the unique look that only nature can provide.” Each natural stone worktop is a completely unique piece. Aesthetically, they offer virtually endless variety.

[Translate to English:] Stein weiß — A stone full of life – „White Fantasy satiniert“

Light and easy

Schwanekamp, Häcker’s supplier for worktops made from natural stone, granite, quartzite, serpentinite and phyllite, is based in Gescher near the Dutch border. They also manufacture a wide range of ceramic and quartz composite worktops for Häcker. Parents Walter and Elisabeth, their children Stefanie and Jan and their team have sixty years of experience in selecting and working with natural stone. They often visit quarries themselves or even select specific blocks from processors near Verona that fit into their extensive range. Sometimes, they even go as far as to pick out a certain piece of rock for a certain order.

Häcker offers nearly two dozen different types of natural stone for worktops from Schwanekamp. Kitchen studios tend to display a few samples to pick from, but if someone wants to see “their” exact worktop, they can have a bespoke picture sent to them showing the entire piece of stone. Some customers even come to Gescher themselves to see their worktop before it is fully finished. After all, a small sample is just a sample.

In the past, kitchen studios would have natural stone worktops made by a local stonemason. Schwanekamp has developed a special system that makes everything much easier for all parties involved in purchasing a kitchen.

„You have to have an eye and a knack for the stone and how to work it.“

Jan Schwanekamp, natural stone expert

They have their natural stone panels cut to a thickness of just 11 millimetres in Verona. This means that instead of the standard 28 panels, they can now get 75 from a single block. These 11-millimetre panels are then cut for the respective kitchen plans with computeroperated water jet systems, and the edges are deburred by hand. As Jan Schwanekamp proudly explains, “There is no machine as precise as our team. Even if we work relatively industrially here, our team still has the same passion for detail and respect for the stone and craftsmanship. You need to have an eye and a knack for the stone and its processing and a feeling that what you are doing is working.”

The panels are given a substructure made from galvanised steel tubes and moisture-resistant wooden cross ribs that can be screwed, making them significantly more stable than the massive stone panels would be on their own. With the worktops, all the necessary cut-outs for sinks and other appliances are already done to industry standards. Schwanekamp can also manufacture sinks made from exactly the same material as the worktop by hand.

The advantages of this are enormous: significantly less natural stone is used and much more can be fit onto the lorries from Italy. The finished worktops are significantly lighter, easier to transport to the customers and – most importantly – can be adjusted and installed by the installers at the same time as the other kitchen furniture. “When they are only 11 millimetres thick, the installers can work on the panels on site as long as they have the right tools,” explains Stefanie Schwanekamp. This means that the installers do not have to go back and forth two or three times and that the kitchens can be ready straight away. This saves an enormous amount of time and ensures a high degree of customer satisfaction.

[Translate to English:] Bearbeitung Naturstein

Just like Häcker’s kitchens, the worktops are made on an individual basis. The experienced production specialists adapt – and this is particularly important with well-structured natural stones – each individual piece by hand to create perfect worktops. The individual panels, no matter how complicated they are with moving parts or large cutouts for cooktops, are precisely fitted together in the factory. They are then taken apart again and delivered and installed at the same time as the rest of the kitchen. This way, the installers can be sure that everything fits together perfectly and that they can put the panels together as precisely as possible and with as few screw connections as possible. End customers (and kitchen consultants) can benefit from that fact that the Schwanekamp worktops are fully integrated in Häcker’s ordering system and so can be sure that they will get the worktop that they have always dreamt of. Regardless of whether you opt for matt black “Nero Assoluto”, “Mont Blanc Quartzite”, “matrix-cut” quartzite that is gentle on the hands, black-green “Black Musk” with shimmering gold veins or “Tropical Storm”, the worktops all have one thing in common: they are wonderful, natural, one-off pieces.

Text: Peter Würth