Cambria (keɪm-bri-ə) is a producer of engineered quartz surfaces in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is located in

Le Sueur, Minnesota Le Sueur is a city in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur County in the U.S. state of Minnesota, between Mankato, Minnesota, Mankato and the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities. It lies along the Minnesota River and U.S. Highway 169. Le Sueur was ...

, with additional facilities throughout the United States, and in

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Cambria is privately held and owned by the Davis family.

Kitchen countertops

Cambria produces quartz surfaces, primarily for use as kitchen countertops. It is used in a similar manner as

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

, except that it is not

porous Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...

, and thus requires no periodic sealing. The look of any quartz countertop compares to granite in that the colors are deep and consistent. The process of creating the countertops is different than granite, in that it is an engineered product, consisting of a minimum of 93% quartz and 7%

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

binder and dyes. An engineered product that requires no sealer has the advantage in that it requires no harsh chemicals to seal, nor does it emit harmful chemicals into the air, making it potentially more environmentally friendly. Engineered quartz however may be damaged by heat unlike granite.

Sun Country Airlines

In July 2011, Cambria purchased Sun Country Airlines out of bankruptcy for $34 million after the collapse of the Ponzi scheme of

Tom Petters Thomas Joseph Petters is a former American businessman and chairman and CEO of Petters Group Worldwide, a company which stole over $2 billion in a Ponzi scheme. He was convicted of massive business fraud in 2009 and is now imprisoned at the Unit ...

and

Petters Group Worldwide Petters Group Worldwide was an American diversified company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota that was turned into a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme by its founder and CEO, Tom Petters. It had 3,200 employees and investments or full ownership in 60 compani ...

, the former owner of the airline. Cambria sold Sun Country in 2018.

Cambria Silo

A silo, located on

US 169 U.S. Route 169 (US 169) is a north-south U.S highway that currently runs for 966 miles (1,555 km) from the city of Virginia, Minnesota to Tulsa, Oklahoma at Memorial Drive. Route description Oklahoma US 169 is a major north–south ...

between St. Peter and Le Sueur, is rented by Cambria to store quartz granules and slabs. The silo was repainted with the Cambria logo. Cambria was ordered to remove the sign by

MnDOT The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT, ) oversees transportation by all modes including land, water, air, rail, walking and bicycling in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The cabinet-level agency is responsible for maintaining the state' ...

because it violated state law against advertisements along public highway corridors and county ordinance in historic preservation districts. Cambria was allowed to keep the silo repainted because it claimed to use the silo as a site to sell its products thereby bypassing the law through a rational nexus exemption. Prior to the Cambria logo, the silo was painted to appear like a can of 7 UP and later as an advertisement for

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

''Legend of Cambria'' movie

In 2018, Cambria released the movie ''Legend of Cambria''. Narrated by

Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films since the 2000s, he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award. ''The ...

and directed by Alexei Tylevich. The film depicts the fantastical origin story of the Cambria brand, pulling heavily from Celtic mythology. The short film was 40 minutes long.Legend of Cambria - The Film

References

External links

* {{Official, cambriausa.com Companies based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota