Our Affiliations with the NSI & NSC

Global Granite & Marble® is proud to partner with the two leading organizations in the United States which support and promote the building stone industry.

The Natural Stone Institute (NSI), formerly known as The Marble Institute of America, has served as the authoritative source of information on standards of natural stone workmanship and practice, as well as the suitable application of natural stone products, for over sixty years. The NSI holds all its members to the highest standards of workmanship and ethics. Global Granite & Marble® is proud to be among nearly 2,000 international members of the Natural Stone Institute, the world’s largest trade organization representing and supporting the natural stone industry.

Membership in the NSI gives Global Granite & Marble® access to technical experts devoted to this changing field. With new materials and building methods evolving, the NSI continually updates the standards of specifying stone for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) by producing the Dimension Stone Design Manual. Through the NSI, Global Granite® is proud to offer continuing education credits to members of these organizations:

• American Institute of Architects (AIA)
• American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)
• International Interior Design Association (IIDA)
• Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC)

The NSI conducts studies that provide the most up to date statistics and scientific research regarding health and safety information pertinent to consumers and helps to dispel myths propagated by manufacturers about competing products. For installers and fabricators working with natural stone, the NSI helps to answer technical questions and solve problems, as well as offer training seminars. The NSI also provides natural stone companies an abundance of safety information, manuals, videos, and training tools. NSI provides these tools to members at a discounted rate to encourage higher compliance ratios with OSHA and other government employment agencies.

The Natural Stone Council (NSC) is a collaboration of businesses and trade associations within the building stone industry which works to promote the use of Genuine Stone® in both commercial and residential applications. The NSC helps to educate consumers and designers about the strength, beauty, and grandeur of building with natural stone, and its advantages over man-made materials. The Natural Stone Council created a brand for natural stone with its Genuine Stone® campaign, and pooled marketing resources to increase understanding and promote natural stone as a premier building component.

As our understanding of what it means to “build green” evolves, the Natural Stone Council and the Natural Stone Institute actively push for more studies on the environmental footprint of natural stone. They aim to show how the inherent properties of stone, which have made it a responsible choice for centuries, are still applicable today since stone requires minimal processing and has the durability to outlive the project itself.