We’re always on the lookout for new and innovative suppliers for our design business.
And once I find a company that not only offers amazing products and quality service, I just have to spread the word.
Now and again, we hear a story that sounds nearly too good to be true; but in the case of K2 Stone—a multi-location outfit providing natural stone products for interior and exterior applications—their story is both inspiring and, quite literally, set in stone.
What started out merely as a final thesis idea for a stone quarry start-up during the last semester of business college and became a successful pitch to a well known father-son construction company on the West Coast, K2 has cemented its foothold within the building and home renovation industries gradually over the past 15 years.
With storefront locations in Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmonton, Calgary and a newer partnership in Kalispell, Montana, the company has stayed fairly close to home when it comes to harvesting their materials. Although some of the stone is taken from several quarries in Montana, the original quarry in Port Renfrew, as well as the addition of a local quarry in Kettle Valley provides the vast majority of their product.
Perched on a corner of Innovation Drive, between Fleet and Spectrum Avenues in the northern Airport Business Park, the K2 Stone Kelowna storefront has fast become one of my favourite stops to pop into and visit.
A hop, skip and a jump from Eternal Timber & Design and Smalls Tile, K2’s unique and clever thin stone products (aside from their gorgeous showroom design) are what originally caught my attention.
Typically, most consumers know using natural stone on their fireplaces, feature walls and as house siding requires major reinforcing of the structures in behind and are afraid of the overall stress and weight it adds. The beauty of K2’s thin stone products lies in their cutting process: Real stone is cut into one-inch thick veneers, making it light enough to be installed and adhered as such.
Offering ease of application without losing the uncompromising beauty and durability of natural stone, it does not require special mechanical fastening or foundations.
The reduced overall size and weight (13 lbs vs 50 lbs per square foot) of the finished product costs less to transport and install—a huge cost benefit when you consider many manufactured stone products (which I might add don’t look overly appealing or authentic and are perceived to be less expensive) are fabricated and shipped up to Canada from the US.
K2 offers a variety of beautiful slate, basalt, granite and sandstone products, in several jaw-dropping blends and profiles. But my favourite has to be their one-of-a-kind slate-quartzite combo, Ocean Pearl (extremely rare and found in only a handful of quarries worldwide). Somewhat of a chameleon, Ocean Pearl has the ability to transform depending on the profile cut it receives, making it phenomenal for clients looking to incorporate a single stone product throughout the interior/exterior of their homes, but not wanting a matchy-matchy or overly complicated end result.
Depending on where the stone is pulled from the quarry also dictates the colours and tones it will have and, keep in mind, as the stone is exposed to natural elements outdoors it will continue to develop and weather with deeper and richer patinas.
No stranger to the building/construction industry, K2 Kelowna’s manager Jason Wright is passionate about his stone and rightly so—timeless, durable and inherently stunning, foregoing a manufactured product for an authentic stone adds immeasurable value and curb appeal to any project.
What was once considered a premium upgrade for a premium price, K2 has cut the overall costs of a traditional full-bedded stone, while maintaining eco-friendly production processes and made their product accessible to a wider variety of builders and consumers.
And K2’s long list of foremost custom home builders and educated consumers have supported their mandate time and time again: developments like Skylands, Wilden, Kettle Valley, Predator Ridge, Vineyard Estates and Lakestone all have numerous K2 Stone products implemented in their final designs.
Stop in and visit Jason, Dallas and their impressive showroom Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit online at K2STONE.com.
