Tony Xenos, son of “Old World Master Marble Craftsman” Spiros Xenos, who brought St. Louis Acropolis Marble, has taken his 3rd generation stone working experience and combined it with the latest techniques in Lean Production Methodology assuring cost effective, quality fabrication of any stone project. The Xenos family, including Spiro Xenos-St. Louis's only Greek Master Marble Craftsman (As featured on HGTV-Modern Masters), has allowed the legacy of his 30 yr history of stonework in St. Louis to continue through his son Tony Xenos and Aphrodite Granite's staff of qualified employees.
Having begun training by his father at the early age of 7, first laying floors and setting cast stone, the apprenticeship continued on to later include fabrication of intricate furniture work when marble was the material of choice. In the late 90's Granite and Granite Countertops became the popular item. While everything up to this point was fabricated by hand, switching over to CNC technology in 06 became the "in" thing to do. While at his fathers’ company-Acropolis, being at the forefront of a conversion to full automation provided the experience necessary to witness the pros and cons of going automated. In order to assure standardization of quality amongst all employees, path dependant processes and experiences have been compiled in the form of a procedures manual read by each employee. With the Procedures manual as a guide, new employees are required to take written exams.
At Aphrodite, the machinery selected for use in fabrication is done so through having sifted out machinery that produce bottlenecks, do not live up to quality standards, and make no sense from an accounting perspective. "Single Focus Machinery" creates greater flexibility in the production line to accommodate any job types or throughput needed. Our Digitized Templating Technology, Programmable Bridge Saws, and Shaping and Routing machinery produce even more fantastic results than any CNC alone consistently can.
Most people always ask, “What kind of CNC are you working with”. What they are surprised to find is the quality we produce is done without the need of CNC automation. The customer needs to become aware that CNC's are finely tuned machines requiring continuous human calibration and inputs. This creates just as much potential for error as if being produced by hand as stone has for the last 4000 years. Not adjusting tooling on machines on a daily basis, programmer error, and different characteristics of stone (some more dense others less) lead to Hand Fabrication needed on more than 95% of pieces coming off a CNC machine. Even CNC machined pieces, once finished, therefore contain many of the same characteristics of a Hand Fabrication shop. The thought that CNC's produce no edge waves (waviness of edges in direct light), tighter seams, or more precise shapes is completely false 95% of the time. A brand new machine, tweaked so that every variable programmed into a machine is executed as perfectly as possible will produce a difference only known by a trained individual and completely ignored by the average person.
Aphrodite Granite is a company focusing on the one stop shop mentality with quality at the forefront of every employee’s actions. Whether it is Granite Countertops, Furniture Pieces, Tile Flooring, or any Natural or Synthetic High-End stone covering product, Aphrodite delivers with excellence through experience of its team.
ABOUT US:
Address: Showroom Hours
49B Old Elam Ave, Valley Park MO 63088 8:30 - 5:00 Mon - Fri
Please Follow Signs
10:00 - 2:00 Saturday
10:00 - 2:00 Saturday Phone 636-243-9136 Sundays By Appointment
Fax 314-549-0454
