MARBLE IN INTERIOR DESIGN

Not everything that looks like marble is actually marble. So are we talking about real marble or are we also referring to all the home accessories that are available in marble optics?

When a trend reaches its peak, it eventually infiltrates every aspect of design. Marble optics are currently experiencing this hype.

Alongside genuine marble, we’re also seeing marble wallpaper, bathroom accessories, vases, sculptures and much more. For now, we’ll leave the mere marble optics to one side, since accessories and wallpapers are fleeting stylistic devices in interior design.

Real marble integrated into furniture, on the other hand, has an extremely long lifespan. This is also reflected in the cost. In this regard, a marble table cannot be compared to a simple wooden table, both in terms of price as well as the value of the furniture.

Before marble is introduced to a building as a piece of furniture or design element, you should devote some time to the material and its possibilities and carefully consider where and how it should be used.

Marble is known as a noble, expensive material, and we are familiar with its appearance from luxury bathrooms or museums. But who is actually aware of the origin of this material? How is marble created, where is it produced and what qualities of marble are there?

The famous Carrara marble, for example, is 30 million years old. When the European and African continental plates shifted, a mountain range was formed. This mountain range was subject to very high pressure, meaning that deposits of dead marine organisms and soil were transformed into a homogenous mass we today know as marble.

Carrara marble is characterised by being extraordinarily uniform, with only fine veining running through the material. This so-called marbling has entered general linguistic use (for example, when we speak of marbled meat).

Carrara marble has been quarried in Tuscany for around 2,000 years, and is still mined today in 150 quarries. The quality of the stone only becomes clear after mining. Both colour and marbling are decisive for the quality designation.

The colour palette of marble goes far beyond the classic colours with which we are familiar. Marble exists in many shades and takes on multiple different characters when combined with various colours of veining. Nowadays, the trend is leaning towards coloured marble with fine light veining and simultaneously towards marble with strong colouring and many wild changes.

So we can say goodbye to marble in white, black and rosé. Marble in pink, red, blue and so on can represent a real design statement.

Floors and stairs along with columns and the cladding of prestigious buildings – these are the usual areas of application for marble. And of course sculptures as we see from antiquity.

Marble in the kitchen: This natural stone is suitable as a worktop, provided it is appropriately pretreated. Acids, such as those often needed in cooking, damage a marble slab. Therefore impregnation is necessary in order to provide permanent protection to the material.

Most popular of all are marble tabletops. The material is suitable for all types of tables, but especially for bedside tables and side or coffee tables. With large pieces of furniture, we must not forget the substantial weight of marble.