cutting stone
One of my new obsessions has been visiting the stoneyards to look through the various marble slabs and chunks of other type of pietra from around the area. I would say even in years past I was quite neutral about marble in general, perhaps even considering it dated in some circumstances, gaudy in others. I didn’t think too much of other types of stone either, not that I didn’t like them but I tended to be naturally drawn to other materials instead.
However, I think living in Italy where beautiful stone has been used on some, if not most, of the most famous iconic buildings here for millennia, one’s perspective awakens. I’ve not only warmed to the use of marble and natural stone, but now am having to hold myself back from going overboard. Every trip to the marmista I get wowed by another slab that I find, another lastra (sheet) that I learn about, or somehow the way the light shone just so on that lonely piece in the corner which I’d passed so many times before. Last time I stopped by (to order yet another custom piece) I said that the more I learn about the stone here the more I love it.
I’ve seen marble make its way back into the design trends as well, but its been a fun challenge to hone down the best way to incorporate this material into the interiors of the house in a modern, and sometimes minimal way. The main piece of marble will be for the kitchen island (and I’ll post separately on this soon), but other than this larger piece I’ve decided on a few others that will indulge my growing obsession with stone and be able to display some beautiful craftsmanship as well.
There are three sinks that I am having commissioned: one small one for the little powder room and then the two for the main bathroom. Since I’m trying to use mostly Italian materials when I can, I really wanted to find Italian marbles for both rooms. Although I was mostly envisioning a black sink for the powder room, the only properly black Italian marble is portoro - and besides being pricey, it was also quite elusive trying to find a thick enough chunk of it to make a deep sink. So then I was introduced to grigio carnico which is a varied dark grey stone with black veining which has a lovely depth to the layers.
I told the local marmista who I was working with to let me know when they found a block, and after a few months of searching they finally called to say it was in. It was a little more grey as the black veins are so thin, but it had a really nice unexpected lighter corner with slight flecks of a blush color.
They indulged my curiosity and let me come and watch each step of the process. I’m sure they all thought it was a bit funny how I was always hanging around, but now that I’ve gotten to know them a bit more and they realized that I really am interested in how it all works, they warmed up to me!
First step was cutting the initial size from the slab which included choosing the corner, angle, and slicing it smooth. Then about a week later it was slated for its turn with the 3D cutting machine. Here the exact sizes were programmed into the computer and the hundreds of millimeter-precise cuts were planned. The machine got to work and I stood in place for over an hour watching it slowly hollow out the stone.
It took yet another week for them to polish it and it still is waiting to be coated. This will deepen the color a bit and make it a little more glossy.
We are still in a waiting game trying to find just the right slab of calacatta oro for the main bathroom sinks and shower partition. And I just decided on a slab of travertine to use for a custom coffee table so this will be the next project that they’ll be working on from me… stay tuned as I’m sure I’ll share more updates!
click on image to watch video of the process
on Instagram highlights