Natural Stone Institute Announces Thor Lundh Quarrier Award

Words: Natural Stone Institute

Oberlin, OH, March 19, 2024—The Natural Stone Institute is pleased to announce a new industry recognition award for 2024. The Thor Lundh Quarrier Award will recognize a Natural Stone Institute member who has made an extraordinary contribution to quarrying natural stone. The recipient will be recognized at either the NSI Study Tour or Marmomac. The jury panel will include representatives from both the North American Quarry Advocacy Group and the Global Advocacy Group.

The ideal candidate for this award has demonstrated successful and notable accomplishments throughout a professional career in quarrying natural stone. They have been involved and dedicated to the activities and objectives of quarrying operations in their companies and have contributed to furthering the careers of other professionals in the quarrying field. 

Reid Kubesh (Coldspring), chair of the North American Quarry Advocacy Group, commented: “NSI has added several programs to support the quarrier segment and further advance natural stone in the past few years. We are thrilled for the inclusion of this new award, which will recognize the individuals responsible for the stone at its source.”

The award is named after Thor Lundh, founder of Lundhs AS, the largest natural stone producer in Northern Europe. Thor Lundh has been instrumental in transitioning quarry operations from manual to industrial production, contributing to numerous local and international jobs. Thor Lundh demonstrates how far a natural stone supplier can go when daring to take risks and innovate. He industrialized larvikite production in Norway and today the company is developing a global brand. Thor-Anders Lundh Håkestad, CEO of Lundhs commented: “We at Lundhs are honored to be able to present the Thor Lundh Quarrier Award in close cooperation with the Natural Stone Institute. The areas of use for natural stone have changed a lot and the ways of extracting have changed completely. Lundhs has always been at the forefront of these changes and will continue to develop sustainable production methods and utilization of the stone resources for generations to come. With this award we are looking forward to supporting great achievements within the quarrying industry.”

Nominations are due by May 20. Learn more at www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/quarrieraward. 

About the Natural Stone Institute

The Natural Stone Institute is a trade association representing every aspect of the natural stone industry. The current membership exceeds 2,000 members in over 50 nations. The association offers a wide array of technical and training resources, professional development opportunities, regulatory advocacy, and networking events. Two prominent publications—the Dimension Stone Design Manual and Building Stone Magazine—raise awareness within the natural stone industry and in the design community for best practices and uses of natural stone. Learn more at www.naturalstoneinstitute.org.