Granite, and the Greater World
Posted by AGI on August 26, 2006 05:36 PM | Permalink
On the way to a project meeting in the East Bay we stopped by our granite supplier to inspect a couple of our pallets that had just shipped in from China. The warehouse was located across the street from the Oakland shipping yard, multi-colored towers of metal shipping containers visible over the fence.
A manager led us to the back of the warehouse where a crew of guys used crowbars to crack open one of the wooden cases containing our granite slabs. They pulled back a protective plastic sheet and we leaned in to take a look.
"It's wet," said the manager, running his hand along a slab. "Raining in China."
I touched the granite and sure enough it was wet. And it sort of blew my mind, not so much seeing Chinese granite, but seeing Chinese rain. For all the stuff I've heard about globalization over the years, it never quite struck me like witnessing the weather of a different county being delivered to you.
Needless to say, we have to return next week, once they're dried out, to make sure they're the correct color.
Great post. Let's tie this realization back into the real estate development work you do.
What new revelation does this experience provide you in terms of understanding a developer's role in the community?
Posted by: Robert | August 28, 2006 07:42 PM