Carrara marble is a natural stone of exceptional quality named after the Italian quarries from where it is extracted. It is characterized by its gleam, delicate veining and charming features that make it an ideal choice for sophisticated interiors and exteriors.
This article was born with the goal to enhance the beauty of designing (with) natural stone. It is for you that are in love with custom made design and natural luxury finishes, probably working in architecture and interior design, or just passionate about this incredible material.
Follow along to discover the most beautiful and famous marble typologies, how to create a win-to-win relationship between your project and the material, and a few marble’s designs we have created over the years. Let’s start imagining what we can create together!
Marble: wonder of the past, precious resource of the future
The types of marble quarried in Carrara are among the finest in the world and Carrara marble is one the most demanded stone between designers and architects all over the world.
The considerable amount of quarries and extensive range of marble allows our region to produce large quantities of different types of marble to meet consumer demands and maintain smooth and efficient mining techniques.
Nowadays, sustainability is also a very important aspect to take care of when extracting marble.This is not a story about the “white marble”, but about how the composition of a typical white background with grey-ish veins composes a big portfolio of 50+ different qualities of Carrara marble that are significantly different both in aesthetics and technical features.
Undertone, color contrast, percentage of veins, dimension of these veins, mineral – that also means color – composition are just a few of the parameters to evaluate and consider when discussing and choosing a marble over another.
Our top selection: the features that made the cut
Each marble is beautiful, that’s for sure, but we can’t help but have some favorites, especially when discussing luxury features and characteristic design.
These are our top 6:
Statuario
Statuario marble can be identified by one bold dark grey vein accompanied by thinner ones.
Compared to other qualities, Statuario marble offers a very rare big area of a pure white and cool background and usually presents just a small percentage of cracks and impurities.
Calacatta
Calacatta marble stands out to other types because of its special surface due to fine, gold-ish veins.
A true Calacatta marble slab would always have a soothing off-white or ‘Cappuccino’ background, adding a warm appearance and feel to your design.
Generally speaking, stone’s impurities are visible only on the edges of a slab.
Arabescato
The Arabescato’s pattern is unique and reminds of the arabesques art decorations, with rythmic dark gray veins, slightly yellow spots and a particular dark hue that incredibly contrasts the white background.
No other marble can be compared to this one.
Zebrino
A marble like the Zebrino one is very fitting for product design as the horizontal texture emphasizes the furniture in each detail.
Cipollino
Cipollino marble is cut to give a particular endless wave texture and honed finished to maintain its black and white shade through the years.
Collemandina
Collemandina marble is a very precious stone able to give style, elegance and class to every project.
The color is an intense gray with brown shades and precious whitish and gold veins that make it the perfect choice for the sleekest yet contemporary projects.
The chromatic characteristics are enhanced both by a perfect mirror polishing or a smooth, brushed and striped processes.
