There’s great news in the promotion and protection of natural stone products against the attacks of poor ceramic or cement fakes. A trademark has been created by EUROROC (the Federation of European marble producers) to be applied onto those products that are born in the very heart of the quarries, a simple but striking picture comprised of a blue logo (the colour of Europe) portraying a sketched block and slab, under which every country will place the translation of ‘real stone’ in their native languages. And for the Italian version the chosen translation is just “Pietra Autentica” (Authentic Stone), a firm, curt phrase, which aims at stating the natural authenticity of stone as opposed to the falseness and artificiality of factory-made marble and granite.

“Pietra Autentica” is a collective trademark that is registered, edited and distributed by Assomarmomacchine in Italy and that has been presented in Carrara, during Marmotec, by Gerd Merke, secretary of EUROROC, on June 2nd, during a press conference, with Flavio Marabelli on behalf of Assomarmomacchine.

CarraraFiere was represented by its president and CEO, Giancarlo Tonini and Paris Mazzanti, who firmly highlighted the need to promote stone as well as to protect its reputation and reliability, given the fierce competition of industrial materials which often take its name but certainly not its aesthetic qualities. A need that is corroborated by the attention that stone is raising once again in the architects, who are fascinated by this material but need to be guaranteed about its authenticity.

As he went briefly over the history of this trademark – now shared by the whole marble industry of the 25 EU member states – Merke recalled that the idea of Pietra autentica aimed at achieving three goals: firstly, to bring the whole European stone industry together under a common, clearly-recognisable effigy by developing one single logo applicable to every EU country, one single image to distinguish producers in Italy, Spain, Germany and in all of the other 25 EU member states. Secondly, to let the companies make unlimited use of the European logo by paying just the actual running expenses, equal to 100.00 euros a year, without being bound to any burdensome commitment for being able to use the EU logo “Pietra Autentica”. The third, important factor is that the trademark will distinguish real stone products from ceramic or cement ones.

The decision to use the word “authentic” is due precisely to the fact it straightforwardly refers to authentic as opposed to fake, just like an “authentic” work of art is distinguished from a fake work, a copy or an imitation.

The logo “Pietra Autentica” is a decisive communication campaign for the whole marble industry of Italy and Europe, an operation which in the next few months is going to involve not only the industry professionals but also designers, architects and end users.

A successful initiative, since in just a very short time about fifty companies have already chosen to bear the European logo Pietra Autentica, specifically designed to distinguish natural stone products.

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