Materials

Choose by temperament and by use. Travertine is warm, matte and layered, with natural pitting that gives a tactile, earthen surface; it flatters casual rooms and heavy daily use because wear reads as character. Marble is cooler and more graphic, veining is the event, and rewards rooms where the piece is a focal point. Practically, both are calcium-based and etch with acids, both want sealing on working surfaces, and both are produced to the same finishes; neither is categorically “more durable” in furniture use. Density and porosity differ by specific stone more than by family, so tell us how the piece will live, children, wine, a covered terrace, and we will steer between specific stones, not just the two names.

No, the voids are how the stone formed. Travertine is deposited in layers by mineral springs, and gas escaping during formation leaves the characteristic pits and channels you see on a cut face. You choose how to treat them: filled travertine has the voids packed with a colour-matched filler and then honed, giving a smoother, easier-to-clean surface for dining tops and basins; unfilled travertine leaves them open for a rawer, more textured read that suits objects and low-contact surfaces. Filled surfaces can still open a small pit with hard use, which is repairable rather than alarming. The choice is stated on your production drawing, so the surface you approve is the surface you receive.

Because a stone name describes a quarry family, not a fixed image. Within one named stone, blocks vary in background tone, vein density and colour intensity depending on where in the deposit they were cut, one Arabescato slab can be open and calm, another crowded and dramatic. Lighting and finish add another layer: polished surfaces deepen colour and contrast, honed surfaces soften both. This is why we treat photographs as an introduction, not a promise. For pieces where the pattern is the point, we confirm the actual slab or block with you before cutting, using photographs of the material reserved for your order, the only honest way to know what your piece will carry.

Honed is smooth and matte; polished is smooth and reflective, the same surface stopped at different grits. Polished finishes intensify colour and veining and are the traditional marble look, but they show etching from acids more visibly and fine scratches interrupt the gloss. Honed finishes read softer and more contemporary, forgive daily wear better, and suit travertine especially well; their trade-off is slightly more openness to oils, which sealing addresses. On furniture we quietly favour honed for dining tops and high-touch surfaces and either for occasional pieces, but it is a stated choice on your drawing, not a default. If you are undecided, request samples of your stone in both finishes, hands settle this question faster than descriptions.

Most stones in the collection are used for basins successfully, the engineering is in the finishing more than the stone family. Basin interiors are finished and sealed for daily water contact, drilled positions are made cleanly to avoid weak points, and the stone thickness is set for the bowl form. What deserves genuine caution: highly translucent onyx is softer and reserved for lower-contact uses or protected positions; strongly acidic cleaning products harm every calcium-based stone, so bathroom care means neutral cleaners regardless of stone. Standing water and cosmetics should be wiped rather than left. If your household runs on aggressive cleaning sprays, tell us, stone selection and sealing schedule can lean defensive.

Sometimes, and we assess it per stone and per climate rather than answering with a blanket yes. Dense stones tolerate covered outdoor positions in mild climates well; travertine has centuries of outdoor use in architecture. The real risks are specific: freeze–thaw cycles force water in pores to expand and can spall surfaces, direct sun fades some coloured stones and heats dark ones, and polished finishes weather toward matte outdoors. Fixings and bases also need outdoor-grade specification. Tell us the setting in your enquiry, covered terrace in Singapore, open garden in northern Europe, and the quotation will say plainly whether the piece and stone suit it, with any changes (finish, sealing, drainage) engineered in.

Against the piece, not just the name. Selection starts from what your design needs: a long dining top wants directional veining that can run its length and a slab large enough to avoid unnecessary joints; a drum coffee table wants figuring that wraps acceptably around a curve; small objects can use dramatic sections a large top could not carry. Colour is matched to your stated direction, faults are avoided or positioned where they will be cut away, and for veined pieces the proposed material is photographed for your confirmation before cutting. Where you have an existing scheme to match, a floor, an earlier piece, send photographs and we select toward them, with honest words about how close a natural match can be.

The collection is natural stone, and each product page states its material plainly. A small number of designs pair stone with other honest materials, ultra-clear glass tops on stone bases, brass stems on side tables and lamps, and where that is the case it is written in the specification rather than discovered later. We do not pass engineered or sintered surfaces off as quarried stone, and equally we do not disparage them; they are simply a different product with different behaviour. If your project specifies engineered stone for practical reasons, say so, we will tell you whether it is something we can quote or whether you are better served elsewhere, which is the answer a specification deserves.

Gently, yes, stone is a mineral surface that records its life. Honed surfaces develop a soft patina in high-touch areas; light etching from a missed lemon or wine ring reads as matte spots on polished marble; travertine’s filled pits can open slightly with hard use. Sunlight can slowly shift some coloured stones. None of this is failure, and most of it is reversible: honed surfaces can be re-honed, polished tops re-polished, pits re-filled, and sealing renewed, stone is one of the few furniture materials that can be fully refinished decades in. If you want a piece to stay showroom-perfect, choose forgiving stones and finishes and keep the sealing schedule; if you like material that ages, stone obliges beautifully.

Yes, and for material decisions we actively recommend it. Request the specific stones you are weighing through the sample request page, tell us the finish you intend (honed and polished samples of the same stone read differently), and we arrange cut samples. Two honest caveats travel with every sample: first, a hand-sized piece cannot show the vein movement of a full slab, so for large veined tops we pair samples with photographs of candidate slabs; second, samples show the stone family faithfully but your block will still be its own. Sample cost and delivery are confirmed when you request them. Designers ordering for client presentations can request labelled sets, say so and we prepare them accordingly.