EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW KEN McCULLOCH ROSEWOOD LAUNCH ART AFTERNOON TEA SEBASTIAN CONRAN INTRODUCES GIFU COLLECTION DAVID MORRIS OPENS IN PARIS FARADAY FUTURE RELEASE FF91 IL BISONTE APPOINT NEW CEO RENOVATIONS AT THE LANGHAM A CULINARY ADVENTURE WITH SKYE GYNGELL
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luxury briefing
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Issue 194
Luxury Briefing
LIMITED EDITIONS
MARBLE’S SACRED TRILOGY WITH THE MARBLE INDUSTRY BOOMING, RACHEL DYER MAKES A CASE FOR THE QUARRY, THE CRAFTSMAN AND THE CREATIVE
There are few materials in the world that convey glamour, opulence and luxury like marble. Once the reserve of the halls of antiquity, and of the world's most revered institutions and museums, it’s now increasingly making its way into our homes. In recent years, far from the grand staircases and halls that it has historically inhabited, it has become a ‘trend’ on the lips of every interior designer, donning counters and walls far and wide. The urgency and impatience with which we demand the
latest interiors trends means that marble is being sourced, imported and installed at a rate never seen before. It’s a far cry from the slow, steady and expertly considered methods of the industry’s past. Our obsession with marble isn’t new – it’s been used to deck out royal and religious buildings for thousands of years, and has been a symbol of luxury opulence for as long.
The marble columns of Ancient Greek temples were as much a symbol of status and affluence as they were architecturally important. In 1632 Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal – to this day the most extravagant marble structure in the world – standing at over 170 metres with bulging domes and intricate carvings, calligraphy and inlays of precious gem and stone. It was the material of choice for sculptural masterpieces, because despite its hardening over time, it was soft when first quarried, enabling artist to render details down to the
last strand of hair in the Elgin Marbles, and down to the veined hands of Michelangelo’s David. For many centuries, apart from a brief and messy foray into the use of explosives in the 18th century, the marble extraction and transportation process stayed much the same – manual, slow and not hugely productive. The real revolution came at the end of the 19th century when the helical wire method was invented. Diamond wire sawing and widespread
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Issue 194
Luxury Briefing
LIMITED EDITIONS
To get the best result there needs to be what Steve Charles calls a ‘sacred trilogy’: the material, the craftsman and the interior designer. None of these elements can be neglected and each must work in harmony.
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use of trucks and machinery followed soon after, giving us the supply that we see today. Fifty years ago, the amount of marble quarried each year was in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes. Constantly improving technology, and the opening of new quarries has meant that it’s now well exceeded the million-tonne mark. One such quarry is Fox Marble PLC, a brave new British company with quarries in Kosovo and Macedonia that is taking on an industry historically dominated by Italy’s Carrara quarries. The demand for marble is such that this fledgling (by marble quarrying standards) enterprise is flourishing. We’re losing our marbles over marble interiors, and so with manic demand, and abundant supply (unless environmentalists have their way), can’t we have our trendy slab of marble ‘off the shelf’ or delivered at the click of a mouse, as with the rest of our interiors whims? The answer, according to marble and stone expert, Steve Charles, is no, not if you’re smart. ‘People who try to treat marble as a product never succeed,’ he says. To get the best result there needs to be what he calls a ‘sacred trilogy’: the material, the craftsman and the interior designer. None of these elements can be neglected and each must work in harmony. Even the finest marble is just a lump of stone without the
expertise of the fabricator and the creative flair of a good interior designer. In an impatient and at times frivolous social media age, Steve Charles sees all too many instances of short cuts being taken – where the communication breaks down between the trilogy of expert, craftsman and creative – and the consequences can be costly. He stresses that separating the contract from extraction to installation is a risk, and advises working with a quarry that has a seamless relationship with expert craftsman and designers. Buying ‘off the shelf’ or over the internet will seldom result in what he calls ‘a true luxury product’.
foxmarble.net stevecharles.com
Issue 194
Luxury Briefing
Opposite page: Marble extraction at Fox Marble's Syrigane quarry in Kosovo. This page: Fox Marble bathrooms
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