Around this time last year, a Los Angeles County jury passed down a landmark judgment in the case of Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez—a 34-year-old stonecutter who had contracted the respiratory illness silicosis after breathing in the crystalline silica dust released during the fabrication of engineered stone, and was eventually required to get a double lung transplant. In the end, Reyes Gonzalez was awarded more than $52 million in damages, with partial liability attributed to manufacturers Caesarstone USA (15 percent) and Cambria (10 percent). The case presented a reckoning of sorts: Where would the engineered-stone industry go from here?

One year later, the landscape has already changed. The shift was clear at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in February, where several manufacturers display

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