LX Hausys targets North American imitation marble market

Customers visit LX Hausys' exhibition space for its products at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show held in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday. Courtesy of LX Hausys

By Kim Jae-heun

LX Hausys is speeding up its efforts to target the North American market for engineered stone and artificial marble by participating the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Orlando, Florida, from Feb. 8 to 10. The company is introducing new products with distinctive designs as well as showing where they have been used.

LX Hausys has introduced two varieties of its engineered stone called “Viatera,” and seven kinds of its imitation marble called “Hi-Macs.”

Its “Viatera-Calacatta Marina” and “Viatera-Calacatta Verde” products, which add subtle navy and green vein designs to its unique Calacatta pattern of natural-looking marble, have drawn keen attention at KBIS.

The Viatera-Calacatta collection is already a popular model in Korea since it first came out in 2021. LX Hausys added navy and green to its products exported to the United States so as to give them more of a natural feel.

In addition, its artificial marble products, “Hi-Macs Calacatta Lunar” and “Hi-Macs Pietra,” adopt natural marble textures that have attracted the interest of local builders.

LX Hausys also invited VIP customers from architecture and kitchen design companies in North America to KBIS. The effort is part of LX Hausys' marketing strategy to win new contracts for its engineered stone after the company established its third production facility in the U.S. state of Georgia in 2020.

North America is a key market for LX Hausys, which holds more than 70 percent of the global market for engineered stone. The market is consistently growing, as the demand for high-quality material is increasing there. The company invested $50 million in 2020 to expand its production of engineered stone from 700,000 square meters to 1.05 million square meters, up by 50 percent from the previous year.

LX Hausys holds the second-largest market share of 20 percent for imitation marble, after DuPont, in the U.S. LX Hausys' engineered stone also accounts for 10 percent of the market share in the country.

“We will actively promote our distinguished design and excellent quality of products through this exhibition, while strengthening our marketing in North America, to solidify our position as a leading company there,” a LX Hausys official said.