Do you ever dream about marble?
Yes, I dream about it every day.
Your family’s company, Cosentino, specializes in tiles and hard surfaces. It seems like a relevant question.
Oh, yes it is.
Is yours a difficult industry to explain to laypeople?
Yes, sometimes it can be.
How would you explain your company to someone who is about to jump out of an airplane and has no time for a long story?
We are a family-owned company that produces and distributes surface materials and we try to focus our products specifically in the worlds of architecture and design.
You’re a natural. Tell me how you got to where you are?
Since I was kid, I’ve been visiting the quarry. When I was twenty-one, I was studying in Madrid and decided to join the company after graduating. I started in fabrication, then marketing, and then I became the sales VP to develop the international market. This is my seventh year based in the U.S. as executive vice president of sales.
How did Cosentino enter into the U.S. market?
We started our operation here in 1998 with four or five people. Then we signed a deal with Home Depot and started a fabrication business. Kitchen countertops and things like that. Now we have fifty distribution centers in the U.S.
What distinguishes you from your competition?
Our distribution model. We’re the only people in the industry with a network like ours.
What’s Dekton?
Ultracompact surfaces [synthesized from quartz, porcelain, and other materials] we introduced two years ago. It’s our way of creating different designs and different textures that we don’t normally have in our portfolio.
Is your home full of marble?
Yes.
Your bed?
Yes.
You’re kidding.
Yes.
Why did you choose Cindy Crawford for your American ads?
We think she’s the best profile for our brand: consumers between forty to sixty years old. She’s someone everyone knows around the world. And she’s American.
Duh. Has it been a successful campaign?
Yes. We just introduced it at the beginning of February and the response from the market is positive.
Was working with her a dream?
Of course. She’s an icon. We only work with the best.
