Our trip started in Madrid where we met up with seven other people from the design community. Our group included Cosentino’s Regional Director for the Western Region, Matt Thurston; Cosentino’s Regional Manager for Seattle, Allan Pattee; Design Guru and all that is fashionable, Michael Harris; Designer Kerrie Kelly; Architect and Designer duo, Armando Hurtado and Josh Hissong; and Fabricator and Floor and Wall Expert, Mike Collins.
The next day we took a trip to the magical town of Segovia where we viewed the Roman Aqueduct and the Cathedral. The sight was breathtaking, these little white poofs of a plant blew through the city like it was snowing. We stopped for lunch under the Aqueduct and were served a whole pig with the most amazing wines.
After a few days in the Madrid, it was off to the airport for a short flight to Almeria where we would ultimately reach Cosentino Headquarters. Cosentino is a global leader within its field, devoted to the innovative development of top-quality surfaces.
Two an a half hours later we check into Cosentino owned Jardines la Tejera Hotel and were served a private lunch and met other design professionals from all over the country. Next we took a quick tour of their new secret 100,000 square foot factory for the new product lines. The machinery was quite impressive and the building was huge. I can't wait to use all the new products launching in 2013!
The last day was the full tour of the Cosentino factory and the bus tour of the stone quarries. It was a eye opening experience seeing how this product is made from beginning to end. The owner of the company, Paco Cosentino, son Eduardo and daughter Pilar sat down with us to find out our prospective on the products and how we use them in our design businesses . I was overtaken with their thoughtful questions and genuine comments. This company is going to be around for a long long time, they truly care about there customers and take pride in everything they do.
I was honored to have had a brief experience with the Cosentino family and can't thank them enough for a once in a life time trip to Spain!