Real­ly set in stone

For many years, partners from southern Europe and Asia have been supplying RIKA with individually cut stone slabs, which after further processing and finishing serve as a visual highlight for the high-quality RIKA stoves.

From one block

The special thing: The stone facings are cut out of a single giant block and brought into shape. For this purpose, huge pieces are first cut out of the quarry with a special steel cable and transported to the factory. The individual stones are then cut out by huge machines at enormous mechanical expense, processed further and finely ground until the basic material has the right shape for the stove lining. The surface is then refined. "This step in particular means a lot of manual work with great
attention to detail," emphasizes Schwarzenbrunner. In this processed form, the stone slabs weighing up to 75 kilograms are loaded onto trucks or into containers on ships. Once the tiles have arrived at RIKA's modern production facility in Adlwang, Austria, the transformation from stone to finished stove begins. "First, the stones must be unpacked and put in a drying cabin for three days, where a special process is used to remove moisture at around 70 degrees Celsius," explains Tomislav Dramac, who has been responsible for production management at RIKA for the past five years. The heavy panels are then screwed to the body of the stove, the gap dimensions that are decisive for the appearance are perfectly matched.

Each stove is unique

The individual stone surface makes every RIKA stove unique. Direct customer feedback is therefore always included in the selection of the stones. But the tastes are different: many RIKA buyers were pleased with the particularly regular grain of their stove surface, while others preferred the striking embossing. Like every stove, every customer is unique.