Pisani is holding an open day at its Feltham depot near Heathrow Airport on 4 September when Norwegan company Lundhs will launch branded 'granite' to the trade ahead of its launch to the wider community at 100% Design at Earls Court 17-20 September.

The Lundhs company's aim is to differentiate its stones from others in the market by creating a brand, in the same way that engineered stone makers have done. It launches with Lundhs Antique, Lundhs Blue, Lundhs Emerald and Lundhs Royal, all in two finishes, polished and silk.

Lundhs believes consumers are increasingly sophisticated in their purchase of stone and aims to educate them to distinguish between the different kinds of stone that are currently lumped together as 'granite', identifying separately the Larvikite and Monzonite of Norway, which are sold under various names and are probably best know in the UK as the Pearls (Blue Pearl, Emerald Pearl).

To distinguish them further and identify them as a superior product that does not need sealing or treating, Lundhs will precede each name with the company name, creating the Lundhs brand that they want to be recognised for the quality of the processing, calibration and finishing, as well as the stone itself.

Hege Lundh, the Marketing Manager of Lundhs, told NSS: "Even though we have products that are called granites, they are not really. To be able to talk about the differences… to make the consumer aware of the differences… would be good for the business in general. We think it's necessary to take samples out of the draw and tell the story of natural stone.

"We need to increase the interest in natural stone in general and show the consumer what's different about natural stone and engineered stone.

"Engineered quartz products… and others… are trying to look like natural stone. We want to make the consumer aware that our stone is the real thing; this is nature."

Heger says Pisani is helping to get the message out to the professional stone processors. "We feel that's really important because we want to work with the trade. We want to make it easy for the trade to sell the product."

Last year Pisani helped another of its suppliers, a new company called Fox Marble with quarries in Kosovo and Macedonia, to launch its products in the UK at a Pisani open day. The stone being introduced then included Breccia Paradisea and White Sivec.

To coincide with the Lundhs brand launch in the UK will come a new kitchen worktop website from Lundhs for the UK in September – www.lundhs.co.uk. Until then you can find Lundhs at www.lundhs.no, which is in English but focuses on the company's business worldwide.