We talked about the natural stone sector with Michele De Camelis, the 3rd generation representative of De Camelis Marble Group…
INTERVIEW BY HASAN ERCAZİP
Easier said than done, the 3rd generation representative of a company that has been in the natural stone sector since 1954… At the wheel of De Camelis Marble Group… We are talking about Michele De Camelis. Mike, as he is known in the sector… We sat down with De Camelis and talked about the direction of the sector, Turkish stones and his projects. First of all, we get to know Mike a little better. As we said at the beginning, as the 3rd generation representative of De Camelis Marble Group, he manages a company inherited from his grandfather. He summarizes his relationship with Turkey as follows: “I started working with Turkey many years ago. I think it has been more than 25 years. I have excellent dialogues with the entire Turkish natural stone sector.”
WHITE INSTEAD OF BEIGE
As such, we ask Michele about his perspective on the Turkish natural stone sector… He takes a deep breath and continues: “I think Turkey is the world’s largest marble deposit with an incredible variety of types and colors. Things seem to be a bit troubled in recent years. I can say this here. The amount of products supplied to the Chinese market on behalf of Turkey had increased a lot. This has led to a decrease in the demand for Turkish materials recently. In addition, the preference for white instead of the classic beige in interiors has also put Turkey in a weaker position. We can add the global crisis to the problems. However, I think this is a temporary situation. The most important issue here is this. Turkey needs to move from mass production to a more limited and more selective extraction method. This move will also help marketing.”
‘CHINA AND TURKEY RAN VERY FAST’
Here we ask him to explain the reason for the contraction in the Chinese market. Mike smiles and gives a succinct introduction: “China ran very fast and so did Turkey. The years have been good for both sides! But now China is much more selective than in the past. Turkey needs to take this into account. There are many new countries with more competitive prices than Turkey. This is normal. Therefore, the only way to be successful and safe in the marble sector is to adopt a selective marketing logic. In this way, Turkish products can become an international brand. It is a hard work to do, but it will definitely pay off in the future. I have a special love for most Turkish stones. There is an incredible diversity not only in marble but also in onyx and travertine. It is really incredible.”
‘THE WHOLE SECTOR SHOULD STAND TOGETHER’
Here we come to the competition between natural and artificial… Michele De Camelis underlines the need for the whole sector to join hands here and emphasizes the following points: “Natural is precious, unique. This cannot be denied. Being aware of this, we should make this motto our strong point. There is no shorter and alternative way to defend our natural products wherever we are, everywhere. This is a clear stand against ceramic or any other artificial product. And marble is a small and limited world next to a huge organization like man-made products. That is why it is special, that is why it is precious. We need to find our ‘space’ in the global market with the awareness that what is produced in limited quantities is more valuable. The entire natural stone sector should adopt this policy and stand together for the protection and development of natural products.”
5 STAR PROJECT IN CHINA
In the finale, we talk about the projects De Camelis has accomplished with Mike… He states that they have completed a 5-star hotel project in Jiangsu, China and concludes his words as follows: “We completed a great project with Hong Xin Group. It was a 25 thousand square meter project using our Crotian Serpeggiante stone. I can say that it was one of the special projects for us.”
