Jimmy McKeon from Stradbally, County Laois, a master craftsman and a skilled expert in stone carving, started his own business in Stradbally in 1950. Since then, McKeon Stone has been extracting large premium blocks of stone, using world-class technology, from their 20-acre site. Built stone The special features and versatility of natural blue limestone offer architects, builders and sculptors countless…
As a master craftsman, Jimmy McKeon was already a skilled carver of stone when he launched his own business quarrying one of the most versatile types of stone in Ireland – McKeon’s Kilkenny Blue Limestone.
McKeon Stone is the sole remaining Irish-owned limestone quarry in Ireland and specialises in providing a bespoke cutting and carving service carried out at their workshop in Stradbally.
Like in the years before, Stone-Ideas.com’s editors have collected some inspirations for presents for the loved ones
The book „Marble 4.0“ gives an overview of Italian industry designer Raffaello Galiotto’s experimental works with natural stone during the last years. Most of them were exhibited at Marmomac in Hall 1. His spectacular forms which give the marble a new and contemporary expression bring together craftsmanship and CNC-technology in a groundbreaking way.
Presentation for the first time at Marmomac
Many companies use the quarry for promotion: they invite customers for visits or show it on large screens at their booths. At Marmomac (September 27 – 30, 2017) some firms used Head Mounted Displays to take the quarry close to the customer, instead of vice versa and to show scenes which normally cannot be shown.
We were very pleased to see a strong showing from Irish firms at the recent Natural Stone Show, held at Excel in London’s Docklands. This show takes place every two years, and is the only trade show which concentrates exclusively on natural stone, so it’s an important event for our industry. Five of us from McKeon Stone spent a day at the show, where some of our Kilkenny Blue Limestone could be seen on the stand of our London distributor, the CED Stone Group. (That’s our MD, Niall Kavanagh shaking hands with our machinery supplier Julio, of Benetti Machine, Carrara, Italy, on the CED stand.) One of our customers, McMonagle Stone from Donegal, had their own stand at the show.
Article on the stone work seating in Shefields mall. The stone was provided by Mckeon Stone. Link to the site and article: http://www.businessstone.com/2011/03/13/design-nice-things-for-outdoors-2/
Report on Irish Stone Business by UK Stone Specialist Magazine in June 2010. Kilkenny Limestone Slab