The 6th Biennial of Granite Sculpture (formerly known as the International Symposium of Granite Sculpture) will start on 13 July. This event is under auspices of Centrum Rzeźby Polskiej (the Polish Sculpture Centre) in Orońsk and Professor Jerzy Fober is its artistic commissioner.
The 32nd Carrara Marmotec fair (21-24 May) was visited by 223 companies and only 5,730 specialists. It is no surprise then that the comments which summarised this Italian event mentioned low attendance and treated it as a cause for reflection over the condition of the event in Carrara.
In spite of the fact there is still a lot of time to the next year’s STONE+TEC 2015, the organisers are not wasting their time. The exhibition registration will start in May, and everyone that will send their applications by 31 July 2014 will be offered special discounts.
The competition is supposed to be another way of promoting natural stone. As the organisers in Poland, Turkey, Egypt, Brazil and India assume, the jury will choose two winners in each country. The best students will go to places famous for best natural stones! In the jury we will find representatives of the branch, stonemasons, architects, scientists and, of course, representatives of national branch magazines.
The stone sculpture “Amazing grace” is the first out of 100 which Jon Fathom is planning to make. Marble polar bears are supposed to draw attention to the problem of climate warming, which poses a threat to the population of polar bears in Alaska. The artist started making its first work of art before the end of 2012.
Bulgari, a famous jewellery company, wants to spend as much as 1.5 million euro on renovation of stone Spanish Steps, one of the famous symbols of Rome. The stairway can be found by the Spanish Square and leads to Trinita dei Monti church. It was built in 1725 and has 138 steps.
In mid March customs officers found heroine hidden in a semi-trailer loaded with natural stone. The value of the heroine which the smugglers tried to bring into Poland is record high.
In May Carrara will become the capital city of the world stone industry again. The International Stone and Machinery Fair in Carrara is, besides the fairs in Nuremberg and Verona, third largest European branch exhibition. This year Marmotecc fair is going to focus on promoting raw materials and finished products made of natural stone with particular emphasis on scientific research and innovations.
Contemporary bathrooms, no matter if they are in private houses or public places, stopped being treated only as personal hygiene related places. So is the case with interesting changes that commercial buildings (which originate from European spiritual and material culture) are undergoing. Ancient Greeks and Romans were first who noticed the unbreakable bond between physical and mental health. All of us heard about famous Roman baths which in time turned into huge leisure centres which attracted a lot of people. The time of their prosperity is as early as 1 century BC. It was in the Roman baths where social life, and sometimes a political one, of the ancient polis was led. Except for rooms with pools, there were also massage parlours, playgrounds, libraries, rooms for playing dice, and even cafes. The fact that the baths became much less popular as the Roman Empire was coming to its end is another story. 
The term SPA is often used together with the term wellness. The wellness philosophy was created by an American doctor Halbert Dunn in 1959 in order to promote fitness. Bath is again becoming a ritual, promoted also by doctors as a new cure for many health problems. Searching for the balance between body and mind is becoming the main inspiration for new theories. From 19th century on there are more and more centres famous for steam baths in which every treatment is a multi-stage ritual that includes sauna, massages, baths, a stay in a tepidarium, mixed with each other in various combinations. From that moment on the beneficial influence of warmth and high air humidity are building foundations for wellness tourism branch. 
Experts estimate that spa will be still playing an important role in the development of the whole wellness tourism market. Today 41% of its value is generated by spa tourists. Apart from travelling to wellness hotels and thermal springs, other sectors such as eco-tourism, yoga and fitness centres and others that help to restore harmony and well-being, are also developing quickly. Surprisingly enough, the research show that wellness tourism is especially popular among local tourists. Their travels constitute 84% of all travels. The customers of this market are mainly middle-class residents of industrialised countries who are well-educated and quite rich. The abovementioned report predicts that in 2017 this market will be driven mostly by tourists from Asia, South America, the Middle East and North Africa. 
Should we really treat projects with the use of natural stone in such facilities (spa, wellness, saunas, swimming pools, relaxation and health centres...) as a quintessential example of cooperation of specialists in various fields? Is uncompromising approach to materials used, with as high quality as possible, going to be an indication of competition growth in our branch? The opinion is divided, because the biggest problem can be the weakness of Polish middle class. On the other hand, Poland is one of the countries in which sport-related construction industry is developing really fast, and the need to renovate swimming facilities and to build new ones (famous aqua parks) has recently become an impulse for organising nationwide conferences which aim at promoting technological innovations, sharing experiences and getting familiar with complexities of investment processes. We need to be aware of the fact that so far investments sponsored by public money have dominated this market sector. 
It is estimated that there are more than 200 various spa centres in Poland. Spa & wellness centres situated in hotels constitute a significant part of it. Spa Prestige Design Award, a competition which has been organised since 2012, promotes most interesting design ideas used in facilities in Poland. Stone is far from being the most popular material in the projects which have won this competition so far. Reinforced, openwork glass structures are on the top of the list. Among the projects in which stone was used we can find some by SpaZONE, for example: Arłamów Hotel – the biggest spa resort in Poland with the area of about 5000 square metres, with granite and marble surfaces, Fitness Academy Sky Tower – where slates were used and, above all, Hotel Poziom 511 which was built on a natural rock!
Stone branch in Western Europe is following the old path. The awareness of high quality of natural stone can be often seen on drawing boards. Seemingly risky applications made of stone which is less resistant to moisture absorption prove that if a project is made with proper respect to materials, we will be able to admire the effect for many years. Wellness Waer Waters is an interesting example here – a brand new spa complex built on the outskirts of Brussels.
The condition of the stone which adorns the surface of the main square in the city centre is getting worse and worse. Basalt cubes that connect the strips of granite cobblestones are extremely susceptible to damage. 
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