First boycott of Kamień-Stone 2013 fair by Confindustria Marmomacchine, which is the organisation that represents leading Italian companies, and soon after the communication of the director of the Group of Products of International Poznań Fair saying that the November edition of the fair took place for the last time – the result is that the capital city of Wielkopolska from this moment on will not be associated with any international stone branch event!

What is worse, the reason for terminating the contract by International Poznan Fair with Geoservice-Christi company, which has been organising the stone fair KAMIEŃ since 1991 and Kamień-Stone fair together with International Poznan Fair since 2009, is still unknown. We can hear only rumours, contradictory speculations and suspicions. One thing is certain. Information about the termination of the contract was a surprise for the Geoservice-Christi board. It seemed that last year’s fair received top scores in spite of a smaller number of exhibitors – said Marzena Kantor, the director of the company. When she was asked whether the reason might be organising Jarmark Kamieniarski in Wrocław as a competitive branch event, she replied: “The board of

International Poznan Fair had known about the idea of organising Jarmark Kamieniarski for about a year. If we thought like they do we could see organisation of Sakralia and Memento fairs as a competition for Kamień-Stone because they are also partly about stone.” Filip Bitner, the director of the Group of Products from International Poznan Fair, in his communication published on the fair’s website says briefly: “It was the last time the November edition of Kamień-Stone was held. Instead of Kamień-Stone fair, we are going to host Stone Branch Fair STONE, which will accompany the Trade Fair of Church Furnishings, Liturgical Objects and Devotional Items SAKRALIA and the Funeral Fair Memento.”

Photo: ŚK archives