Fair Trading and relationships – the avowable secrets of sourcing…

The world of natural stone is small – hardly a thousand actors on our planet, none of whom are in the habit of revealing their secrets! During our interview, a message comes in and Bruno Capri’s eyes brighten. News about sourcing has arrived – and not by chance!

Interview with Bruno Capri, Chair and CEO of Capri

You spend 4 months a year away from home. Is finding stones so difficult?

Sourcing is our most strategic activity and what gives us our strength today.
Most of our competitors operate through wholesalers and intermediaries. There are very few short circuits and they tend to standardize the offer, whereas customers are looking for uniqueness! Capri always proposes new stones…
However, fashion trends kill products rapidly, and they also die because of logistical difficulties and quarrying problems. Alternatives have to be found. The cost of Brazilian quartzite rose by 150%. To replace it we “created” Bali, which comes from Pakistan.

What makes a good sourcer?

The ability to weave a worldwide network! What you need to make it work is fair-trading – to strike the right balance between supply and demand in a relationship with the quarriers built up over time. Capri participates in the valuation of their stone and often in the development of the quarry and its environment!
What is vital is continuity, investments in equipment, the corporate structure and the visionary spirit of the owner. The price is fixed naturally, whereas establishing a relationship (sometimes it takes 2 years before doing business!) conditions 70% of the result. A sourcer in a hurry fails. Today the quarriers come to us and that is starting to get interesting!

Where do the most beautiful minerals and the greatest emotions come from?

Africa has the greatest variety of materials and unfortunately poverty is the driver: a peasant has trouble sowing because the land is stony, he will extract and in a few decades create a quarry.
The most promising deposits are in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar. Without being experts in geology, we know at first glance that the material is made for us. It’s a form of ecstasy when, like last year, we discovered a Temuco quarry in Asia.