Puma Marble Co., Miami

September 6, 2007

   “We have backgrounds in interior design and design and we put all of that craftsmanship into stone,” says Mary Ellen Puma Seitz, one of two (her husband is the other) vice presidents at Puma.
   “Thirty-five years ago, my dad did the flooring for a cathedral here in Miami,” she says. “He did the design himself and then went to Italy and got the stone. And just four years ago, my husband (Robert Seitz, the other vice president) ended up designing the lectern and altar for that same cathedral.
   “It’s true – we do have a lot of churches under our belts.”
   Enjoying a long- celebrated reputation for superior craftsmanship and innovative design capabilities, Puma Marble is also firmly entrenched in the thick of Miami’s current commercial and residential development boom.
   “Customization, that’s what we’re known for,” says Puma Seitz. “We have a nice selection of interior designers who work exclusively with us. Some of those people have been coming to us for 30 years.
   “Designers routinely bring us a plan and they know that we will design how to make it work. We can create a design, complete with the moldings—the works.”
   Puma’s reputation, though, goes beyond just talk.
   “We also have a handful of select general contractors,” she adds. “They’re the ones that want only us because we do a good job. One of the designers told me that they haven’t worked with any other marble company that does such detail.
   “We simply speak the same language as designers. Our guys care.”
   In Miami, she adds, “the majority of companies are Latin. This is like an old-time shop that allows you to get everything in one service.”
   Which isn’t to say that Puma Marble neglects staying abreast of current trends. Puma Seitz works to stay on top of styles and trends that set the design pace in the stone design and installation worlds.
   “In addition to installing the onyx wall in a church a few weeks ago,” says Puma Seitz, “right now we’re working with large, 36” x 36” limestone pieces that are popular in floor installations. The style today is gravitating to really large pieces in flooring. And gray is very popular—it’s the ‘industrial look’—we’re using that for a couple different projects.”
   Oolite—comprised of shrimp that burrow into rock—is another current trend growing ever more popular by the day.
   “We also do bathrooms and slabs for interiors with molding that we design,” she says. “A current project we have is made with oolite, similar to Florida keystone. We cut oolite blocks to size for creating moldings, which we run all along the exterior of a home. These are custom things that our customers depend on us for.”
   When the company was launched by yet another Puma—Alexander, Mary Ellen Puma Seitz’ father—the U.S. was in the throes of the Vietnam war, the country was celebrating the first man on the moon, and no one had yet heard of Sylvester Stallone—for whom the elder Puma has designed marble flooring and furniture.
   “In 1969, my father was working for another marble company,” says Puma Seitz. “He was an estimator at a company doing a project at a college. He ended up taking over the project from that company; he did the labor, and they ended up giving him the company.
   “The company started from there and we’ve been continually in the business since 1969,” she adds. “My dad was also into doing furniture, and he’d supply companies close to the design centers. Designers were on other side of town. We catered to them and they knew we could truly design.
   “And we’ve done homes for the stars, including Sylvester Stallone. My dad did a project for Stallone in 1995.”
   Enter Mary Ellen Puma Seitz and her husband and the evolution of Puma Marble from Alexander to his children.
   “My father had a heart attack,” Puma Seitz says, remembering back to 1995, “and when he was feeling better, we talked about whether we wanted to keep the shop open. We’re not a big showroom; we’re a shop.
   “I said I wanted to keep it going. Here we are, 12 years later, and now my husband, an interior designer, works with us. My background is in fine arts and graphic design, and my sister works here in accounting. My brother works with templating and sales.
   “But since I was 16 years old, I was always the one who came into the shop,” she adds. “I still like coming here, and I’ll be 50 this year.”
   Much has changed since Alexander Puma took over and invented the Puma Marble Co. in 1969. Stones no longer have to be hand-honed, for one thing. And computers make what was once sweat-inducing work relatively effortless.
   “When I first started coming to the shop, we used different stones. They were held in your hand, and the men would rub them until they knew the stone was ready,” says Puma Seitz. “When they determined a stone was ready, they’d then use a putty or powder that had an acid or salt base; they’d apply that to the stone, and it popped the shine.
   “We do still use stone to hone, but now everything is diamonds,” she says, as her shop chiefly uses Diamant Boart products. “That’s a big industry change because everything’s quicker. It’s remarkable to see that process now.
   “We have a wonderful supply of diamond pads that help us a lot. And there’s new, man-made stone, some with glass composites. We can find specific blades for specific stones.”
   Diamond tooling and associated machines have changed more than the production method at Puma Marble; it’s also changed the producers.
   “Almost anyone can do the trade if you’re a craftsman or like working with your hands,” Puma Seitz says. “But there’s certainly no longer the need for the big, bull-built man. The computerized machines have changed it a great deal.”
   However, even with 21st Century technology, Puma Seitz insists that her company’s vision and artistry is what sets their operation apart from run-of-the-mill fabricators.
    “Even with all our technology,” Puma Seitz is quick to note, “we do have a true craftsman – a man that’s been with us almost 25 years. He can create all of the edges by hand and has taught all of our workers to do it.”
   Puma Marble’s 15 employees are kept busy by an array of equipment that Puma Seitz says fits cozily but comfortably into a modest shop. “I don’t know the exact square footage in our shop,” she says. “We have a small little working shop, maybe 50’ x 50’.
   “And in that space we have a bridge saw and a radial-arm polishing machine. The thing is, when my husband and I went to Italy, we were looking at their shops and our shop looks a lot like those do – old-time shops that don’t have the newest equipment but have what they need. We’re a small shop but we do big things.
   “And we have six people that go out for installations,” she adds. “The rest work inside the shop.”
   The Puma ambition remains adverse to so-called growth and expansion. In a business world that often measures success by annual gross revenues and adding on square footage, Puma Seitz almost bristles at the very discussion.
    “We don’t need to grow because we’ve already done that,” she says. “We’re at a nice size where we can create things, and we’re a nice, tight group that creates a lot of different works. We’re already branching out, doing furniture lines and design.
   “And we’re real busy here,” she adds. “There are a lot of condos being developed, and a lot of the people we did work for 30 years ago are returning to us today, wanting us to redo a lot for them. We get a lot of repeat customers. Everyone seems to be remodeling.”
   The work – and the reputation – adds to Puma Marble’s bottom line, although that’s not the company’s overriding concern.
   “In volume, we’re just under $1 million in sales annually,” Puma Seitz says. “It sounds funny, but the money doesn’t seem so important. We’re not here just to make money. We’re more concerned about design, not so much the business.
   “We already know that, as long as we’re doing wonderful things, we’ll keep getting work.”
   Cathie Beck is a freelance writer based in the Denver area. She recently completed a memoir, Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship.