Marmor Hotavlje is a company involved in many projects. In its long and successful tradition, the company has worked in a variety of different segments, starting with cultural restorations in the early 1950s and slowly built its way to being the most prestigious stone-cutting company in the world.
None of it however would be possible without their devoted employees. People at Marmor Hotavlje truly believe that they are there for a reason – to make a seemingly impossible into a work of art. The constant education, brainstorming, support and collaboration are needed in order to endlessly push the boundaries of stone.
The evolution of the company, which was present mainly in Slovenia and the countries of Former Yugoslavia has been long and hard – a learning curve that had its ups and downs. Main focus in the 1950s was cultural restorations such as monuments and facades. Not long after, they started working on interior decoration such as flooring and walls. The story of the company’s success continued as they shifted their attention to hotels and splendid interiors. That does not mean that they stopped working in the segments written above but the whole idea of the company was to broaden its horizons and to be involved in as many different projects as they can. The recognition of the company rose substantially and projects in different countries in Europe and other continents followed. On the break of the new millennium they penetrated the yachting industry and never looked back since. Nowadays, they have more than 140 yacht projects behind them and are not looking to slow down anytime soon. With the success in the yachting segments and private residences, the company started developing unique furniture pieces as a completely different field where they started working with many world-renowned designers. Using different techniques and methods from the yachting projects has helped them to craft the dreams of the designers into a reality. In the past years, the newest addition to the company has been the art industry. They believe that stone and art fit perfectly together and they have begun their collaboration with prestigious partners and sculptors to make their name in the most luxurious market there is.
In order to achieve success in a variety of segments, they need their skilful artisans in the workshops. Different machines with exceptional power, speed and accuracy are not easy to control and the fact that the company is constantly developing something that has never been done before gives them no margin for error. Traditional hand stonemasonry skills have always been the most important part of the process and producing different pieces from flooring to bespoke furniture and sculptures certainly is very demanding and complex. That is why the company decided to designate the people responsible for a particular type of project. But before the production workers get their hands on the stone, there are a lot of steps that are as equally important as the last one.
Artisans in their workshops
Sales is a broad aspect, especially in the luxury industry. Individuals involved in this area of business are much more than just sales people. Selling comes at the end of the road. Following the trends, ensuring the best possible marketing strategy for the recognition and awareness of the company, participating in the biggest events in different segments, visiting the best designers and companies worldwide, presenting the services of the company and providing the constant support for any problem the client might have are just some of the tasks for a ‘’sales guy’’. When the demand for a particular project arrives, it is pivotal that the representative of the company provides maximum support and guidance to the client by explaining the technical details behind the project, providing samples of possible materials and prepare the quotation by including everything that was pre-hand agreed with the client. In order to do that, the sales department has to be closely intertwined with other departments.
Marmor Hotavlje deals with all types of stone. From marble, granite, semi-precious to artificial stone. Their tradition and reputation has helped them to achieve the best possible relationship with a large number of suppliers worldwide. From the main centres in Verona and Carrara in Italy, to different countries such as France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Afghanistan, China,… Regardless of the type of project assigned to the purchasing department, their goal is to provide top quality information with the best possible representative photos of the slabs and blocks available for a particular project, samples with the same characteristics and the assurance of the availability of the stone. After the initial phase, the representatives of the company visit the suppliers and check the quality of the materials with their own eyes. When they have the necessary information, they prepare a pre-selection report indicating a wide range of possible materials with their characteristics such as dimensions, treatments and photos. After the client confirms the types of stone, the company organizes a stone selection together with the client. Giving the fact that the company works on many big projects, especially in the yachting industry, the number of suppliers visited on the stone selection is usually bigger than five. After the client or designer confirms the exact slabs at the selection, the task of the purchasing department is to ensure that the materials are transported to the company headquarters and prepared for the initial production phase.
Purchasing department at work
The individuals working in this department offer indispensable support to the sales department and the masters in their workshops. A powerful team of technologists, who develop best solutions and ensure smooth workflow across all stages of the process. The ideas of the architects and designers are translated into the implementation phase, they prepare precise designs and models that allow the clients to see what the final product will look like even before the first cut is made. The quotation they send to the client beforehand is precisely prepared, where they take every single detail into consideration. In their notes, they include all aspects for the material characteristics, production, transportation and installation. The formulas behind the quotations offer them the best possible approximation to the reality by taking into account the preparation and hours spent on similar projects in the past. With this big mechanism surrounding their quotations the deviation between the projected and realistic is +- 5%.
Technological department at work
Regardless of the type of the project, the role of the project manager is to be the link between the client and other departments within the company. Weekly (sometimes daily) meetings with the clients often result in the need to quickly change some aspects within the project, which means that one of the most important characteristics for a project manager is to be organized and adaptable with the highest level of emotional intelligence. Their task is to transform the desires of the clients to the project coordinators and production managers and help the company achieve its goal – high quality product. They have to achieve the best possible fluidity of the project by making sure that all aspects written above are achieved in the quality, deadline and projected budget expected by the client.
Project management at work
Everything Marmor Hotavlje does is intertwined. Their projects, no matter which segment, are equally important as the previous/next one. The teams working on the projects change all the time, because they always want to push for diversity and develop new methods and techniques. At the end of the day, all they want to do is to nurture their love for stone.
Purpose of daily meetings is to ensure a smooth workflow of the project
