Paraná Granitos Ltda was founded in 1987, in Colombo, in the State of Paraná, by the Portuguese Anibal Tavares Lopes, now being directed by his children Jucimara Lopes Moraes, Luciane Souza Lopes, Anibal Souza Lopes, Valdirene Lopes Ferreira, Marineira Lopes Reksiedler, and Francine Lopes de Pontes.

The Group acts in extraction, processing, and distribution, and has several units: Paraná Granitos Ltda and Stone Gallery, located in Colombo, in the state of Paraná; Mineração Café Ltda., located in Santa Rita de Caldas, in the state of Minas Gerais; PR Group Paraná, located in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, in the state of Espirito Santo; and PR Marble and Granite, in Tampa, Florida, USA.

To guarantee the production and meet the increasing demand for the company’ materials, as well as the end quality of the products, the Group counts on state-ofthe-art equipment in its industrial park, such as Breton multi-wire gang saw and polishing line, besides Prometec resin treatment lines, Ramos & Universo multi-wire gang saws, and an MGM polishing line. The company also owns quarries in Brazil and abroad, of some of the most traditional and well known materials, such as Branco Paraná, and Crema Paraná marbles and granites such as Café Imperial, Verde Tunas and Sea Foam Green.

Paraná Granitos acts in the domestic and foreign markets with marbles and granites from their own quarries and several imported materials. Their materials are present in important architecture projects in Brazil and abroad, such as: Hotel Campo Bahia, place where the German team was hosted in 2014 World Cup, where 2,500 sq m of marble Crema Paraná were specified, for the external area; Museu do Amanhã, in Rio de Janeiro, a very important piece signed by the renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, where 13,500 sq m of marble Crema Paraná were specified; Royal Regency Palace Hotel, also in Rio de Janeiro, where 650 sq m of marble Perlato Paraná were specified, for the entrance hall; Grupo Boticário, in Curitiba, where 8,500 sq m of Crema Paraná marble were specified, for the management building; and the Body Tech chain of gyms, that possesses units all over Brazil, where Crema Paraná marble was specified.

Besides marble and granite from its own quarries, the Group always had as its aim the search for innovative solutions such as the Pietrafina technology, presented to the market in 2010. It is an exclusive cutting system that yields stone plates as thin as 5mm, reducing the weight of the stone by up to 70%, yet significantly increasing its impact strength due to its special structure. This innovation opens a wide array of possibilities of implementation of dimension stone in never before imagined places, such as drawer and wardrobe doors; elevator floors, walls, and ceilings; lampshades, plafonds and lamps; also the employment in the boating industry. Besides, some materials become translucent.

In these 30 years of activity, completed in 2017, the Group has kept as its philosophy to guarantee the trust and credibility of the products and services it offers, reaffirming values such as commitment to the clients, respect to humanity and the environment, and ethics.

To celebrate the 30 years of history and strengthen the company brand, the Group reinvented itself and is adopting a single brand – PR Grupo Paraná – that translates the evolution of the company over these three decades of Group activity.

The PR Grupo Paraná also contributes to the development of the regions where it acts, participating in a significant way with social and environmental projects. In the social sector, they participate with monthly contributions to day-care centers, churches, and nursing homes, and also distribute organic food produced in their own land to institutions. They also promote a vacation themed camp annually.

In the environmental sector, they preserve more than 50 hectares of owned property and monitor seven water springs, also on owned lands. Among these activities, they built a nursery for the planting of native seedlings which are donated.

(By Revista Rochas – Patrízia Corsetto)