MARBLE the light touch!

MARBLE

The light touch!

"It's timeless, versatile and can be easily combined with other materials to stunning effect", explains our interior designer Hélène Paoli. "There's a growing interest in using high quality materials - living materials that have soul and a connection with nature. Today, we're exploring new and contemporary ways of using marble". Like wood, each slab of marble is unique. All marble, whether it's from Carrara (Italy), Thassos (Greece) or elsewhere, gets its individuality from its base colour and its veins, which depend on where it is quarried. A high quality traditional material, marble has always been used in prestigious interior design projects for wall panels, bathroom suites and kitchen worktops. Today, it is used differently; more simply. It has also become more affordable. Whether it is used in interior design or in product design, its new contemporary status means that it can be introduced into the home in countless ways.

Among the many high quality materials that are making a comeback, let's not forget marble. Timeless legendary marble is making its way back into our homes in various fabulous forms. And that's why we love it!

Sink in black white-veined Marquina marble by Hélène Paoli/Archipelles, Quatre vents © Alexis Paoli

Worktop in kesra brown Foussana marble by Hélène Paoli/Archipelles, Brèche aux loups © Alexis Paoli

"There is a growing interest in using high quality materials - living materials that have soul and a connection with nature. Today, we're exploring new and contemporary ways of using marble". Hélène Paoli, interior designer

A little touch of luxury

Marble is unlike any other material: it's smooth, soft, has endless variations of colours and veins and is extremely hard-wearing. Do you have fond memories of your grandmother's marble pestle and mortar? Then you're not alone, some items are just destined to become design icons. For example, the beauty of marble is celebrated in the famous oval table in white grey-veined marble set on a polished aluminium base designed for Knoll in 1956 by the Finnish-American architect and designer Eero Saarinen (1910-1961). Or the legendary Arco lamp designed in 1962 by the Castiglioni brothers, which cleverly combines Carrara white marble and metal. Building on the legacy of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, designers are rediscovering and reinterpreting this iconic material and finding new combinations. Marble is now being used in a range of different ways:

Today, it is widely used in product design. When combined with wood, it creates a wonderful interplay of contrasting colours and textures: pure smooth marble versus raw textured wood; and the grey or black veins of marble versus the warm golden knots found in wood.

En version trompe l’œil, la matière zoomée suit le dédale des contours graphiques de son veinage, un peu à la façon d’un papier Reliure en tons sur tons de gris.

Marble can be successfully combined with any material: steel, copper, etc. as demonstrated in this lamp. Luxurious marble adds a touch of timeless elegance to our homes.

When used traditionally, marble is ever in style.