Materials report
Say hello to the stones designers are turning to for a super-sophisticated look grounded in the beauty of the natural world
WARM FRONT
More subtly-hued than some other stones, travertine has found itself on many a designer’s wish list. ‘Limestone and travertine have a warmth about them that creates a sense of welcomeness, and its neutral colour goes with so much,’ says New York interior designer Samantha Stathis Lynch of Samantha Ware Designs. It makes the stone a good match for wood, as shown here in Los Angeles and Toronto firm And And And Studio’s project, where travertine tops and legs seamlessly meet oak doors.
MAKE HISTORY
Heralded as a fine alternative to marble by designers, travertine proves itself a useful and beautiful material for large expanses of wall and other surfaces. ‘We use a lot of travertine because it is quite literally timeless,’ says interior designer Noa Santos, who created this space. ‘It’s use in architecture goes back hundreds of years. It’s an incredibly textured stone that has a porosity unlike most marbles, especially in its unfilled form. While we don’t recommend it for high traffic surfaces, it’s particularly beautiful on feature walls when lit properly.’
GREEN WITH ENVY
Specify quartzite for your furniture and you’ll end up with avery special piece. ‘We were looking for a durable, practical dining table stone [for this space], but we wanted to find something with a unique look,’ says Anna Lloyd-Jones, creative director of London’s ALJ Studio, who worked on this project with Eggersmann Design. ‘We went for a leather finish – matt with texture, incredibly soft to the touch. The stone looks like an artwork as it has such depth to the tone and a huge variation in shade, from dark deep greens to bright lime pops of colour.’
DRAMA CLASS
Expressive and colourful quartzite is becoming popular among designers who want the drama they’d normally get from marble. ‘In a kitchen, I’ve been specifying quartzite, which is a natural stone (not to be confused with “quartz” worktops, which are man-made),’ says Kentuckybased designer Bethany Adams. ‘Quartzite is harder than granite on the Mohs scale of hardness, but has beautiful colours and veining closer to marble. The pricing will be similar to higher end marbles as well.’ Here, huge slabs of quartzite adorn the walls of aproject by Montreal practice MU Architecture.
FORM AND FUNCTION
And finally, we return to granite – now nothing like the 1970s kitchen throwback it once was. ‘The durable aspect of granite makes it an ideal ma
