An investment of $3 million, a closed area of 3000 square meters, seventy spectacular natural stones and an ambiance no different than an art gallery.
It is a gallery. As soon as you step foot in it, the stand, which won the Golden Magnet Reward at 2019 Turkeybuild construction fair, welcomes you. You get fascinated. You look at your right and see Zeugma, which gets you to understand the quality of the place you’ve stepped into. As you proceed slowly inwards, you witness spectacular slabs that leave your mouth open. You know where we are talking about. It’s the new gallery established by Arslanlar Mermer’s sub-company operating in the design field, Lion Stone Art.
Distance to the quarry: 30 km
Established in an area of 6 thousand square meters, half of which is a closed area, Lion Art Stone Gallery has two advantages in terms of location. The fact that it’s located near İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport is crucial. Besides, it’s only 30km away from the Arslanlar Mermer’s quarry in Menderes. To receive more information about the newly opened gallery, which was established with an investment of $3 million, we listen to Lion Stone Art’s general director Hüseyin Arslan.
“My purpose is to endear marble”
Hüseyin Arslan underlines an important point. “Turkey is a country of marble, but our perception of marble does not go beyond tombstones.” says he and continues, “Whereas, other countries use huge amounts of marble even though little material is extracted from their soil. Because they know it is one of the very few elements that don’t hurt people. As an architect, I strive to endear marble to designers, constructors, and architects and to increase marble’s use. Also to be able to export it as a processed product rather than mere blocks.”
A gallery worthy of marble
Expressing that they were spending a lot of effort for the elegance of Lion Stone Art Gallery, he said, “We could’ve also considered this place as a storage house, but we opened a gallery worthy of marble to explain to people that marble is a valuable and unique material. We tried to broaden the view of designers with the most elegant stones from both Turkey and the whole world. We have a storage area of 60 thousand square meters. We currently exhibit 70 different marbles, 30% of which is extracted from our quarry. Our product range will go beyond 100 stones in 3 months. Our goal for the upcoming period is to exhibit 200-250 stones. We’ve realized an investment of $3 million. We estimate that this amount will increase to $4-5 million when we actualize our plans step by step.”
