Today, the Mason Contractors Association of America has announced the acquisition of Masonry Design magazine from Lionheart Publishing. The acquisition of a second magazine with a different audience provides an opportunity to better spread a unified message from the industry.

“I was thrilled when we began conversations about acquiring this magazine. Adding Masonry Design to our portfolio allows us to communicate our message to the design community. There are many systems that compete with masonry and flood the marketplace with misleading and false information about our industry. This will give us a regular, consistent way to communicate the truth,” said Dan Kamys, Editorial Director of MASONRY, the MCAA’s 60+ year old publication aimed at mason contractors.

Masonry Design, which circulates to approximately 10,000 readers comprised of designers, students, and educational institutions, has been a cornerstone of the design community for over 10 years. When the MCAA takes over for the May 2018 issue, it will switch to a quarterly publication. From January through May of 2018, the newMasonry Design team will be focused on a rebranding and relaunch.

“Response from people who have known about this acquisition so far has been very positive. We would like to do something very similar to what we did with the relaunch of MASONRY for Masonry Design. We will rebrand Masonry Design to be industry-driven and provide valuable insight in each issue. Our main focus will be to maximize our reach not only in our industry, but the architectural community as well. We want the readers of Masonry Design to look forward to receiving their quarterly issues. We hope they keep it as a reference tool for their work,” said MCAA President Jeff Buczkiewicz.

As part of the acquisition, MASONRY’s Assistant Editor, Bronzella Cleveland, will be stepping into the Editor position. Dan Kamys and Bronzella Cleveland will still continue to oversee both publications. Todd Fredrick and Brian Loftin of the MCAA will also continue to handle advertising efforts of both magazines.

MASONRY and Masonry Design, though targeting different audiences, will form a synergy through their content. Stories that would otherwise be reserved for one magazine or the other will examine the architectural side in Design, while the execution of projects will be the focus of MASONRY. This will mark the first time the messaging between the two publications will have a similar focus— that masonry can be used for creative design while being sustainable, cost-effective, incomparably durable and a craft that will provide young people a well-respected, lifelong career.