Q2 2026 - Laying the Groundwork for Commercial Operations
When we look back at Q2 2026, we see a period where we transitioned from initial product testing into trial production, defined product colorway offerings, expanded our customer pipeline, secured key facilities, and built out operational systems. We're also honored to be a grantee of Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, to continue our work and collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to restore Northern California’s kelp forests.
Establishing Operational Processes and Manufacturing
We officially secured and moved into our new Ukiah processing facility, a major milestone that allowed us to complete our first urchin migration where we transported 11 tons of harvested purple sea urchins for biomineral processing site.
In prior months, we considered acquiring our contract manufacturer, and officially decided to not move forward. The company has since entered into the dissolution process, and we were able to take on some of their equipment and staff to outfit our Oakland facility for trial scale manufacturing. We’ve also optimized our CNC cutting parameters, surface planarization, and secondary packaging, which enabled us to streamline our path from raw material to finished product. To support this, we’ve been setting up MRP and CRM workflows to automate inventory tracking, order management, and customer interactions.
Advancing Materials Science and Technology
On the technical front, we successfully validated our high-performance formulations, proving exceptional resistance to staining, boiling water, and thermal stress. We also completed thermal conductivity testing at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Refining Colorway Palettes and Protective Finishes
With our refined our finishes, our countertops and tiles now have superior resistance to everyday wear, wine, heat, and stains while preserving a natural, tactile feel. Our signature colorways including Sea Pearl, Clouded Sea, Brineberry, Snowcap Brine, Deep Dulse, and Unifetti are now fully cataloged for wall tile, backsplash, and countertop applications on our website. Each has their own distinct kelp restoration impacts. We are also expanding beyond large slabs, introducing a series of smaller objects like coaster sets.
Connecting at Design and Climate Events
We loved meeting so many architects, designers, home owners, regenerative materials enthusiasts, investors, founders, and environmentalists during SF Design Week, the AIA Conference, and SF Climate Week.
Seeing and learning about the work of phenomenal people and organizations like Teressa Jan from Perkins & Will, Ekoa by Lingrove, Habitat Horticulture, Sunflower Star Laboratory, Reef Check Foundation, Katia Vega from UC Davis, Jerome Tave from 10th Floor Studio, Stella Harry Lee from WRM, and others who are leading the frontier of new regenerative systems has been incredibly energizing for us.
We also met Hunter Pence, environmentalist and retired major league baseball player from SF Giants, and had the pleasure of sharing our work with his team at the Healthy Planet Project. We will be following up and continuing the conversation on new opportunities for residential commercial pilots, distribution and showrooms in California.
