Sponsored by CAV’ART Designer Stone
Of course, when we think of using natural stone in our homes, benchtops are one of the first things that come to mind, and it’s no surprise. This is a product that comes in slabs after all, and it has to be the most common way to use it these days. But we’re missing a trick if we don’t consider using beautiful marbles in other ways and in rooms outside of the kitchen and bathroom, says CAV’ART Designer Stone’s Nathan Karpenko.
It’s a trend he’s seeing, and encouraging, with customers using stone in smaller but no less impactful ways around the home. We’re talking fireplaces, on top of furniture pieces being given a new life, whole dining tables, light fittings, floating shelves, steps and dressing tables. And as well as on kitchen benches and bathroom vanity tops, we’re seeing natural stone atop entertainment units, bars, shower niches and walk-in robe islands. These little touches can add a sense of real luxury and cohesion to a home and they’re bringing back some forgotten stonemasonry skills.
“We’re increasingly seeing customers use natural stone outside of the traditional vanities and bench tops,” says Nathan, who has worked in the industry for decades and owns Sydney-based CAV’ART Designer Stone. “We’re seeing it used for a lot of living room furniture like side tables, in walk-in robes and for shower nooks. It’s something different and these little touches can really elevate a room. It’s also great to make something out of these offcuts or leftover pieces of stone rather than them end up in landfill.”
Nathan says the evolution of engineered stone in the early 2000s, which was much easier to work with, saw a lot of traditional stonemasonry skills being lost and thinks the current surge in popularity for natural stone, and using it in interesting ways, will help encourage them to be used more and hopefully passed on.
“It’s been great to see a resurgence of some of these amazing stone skills, with people really pushing boundaries, adding beautiful curves and leathered finishes.” While Nathan accepts many people won’t realise all the things that are possible with stone, he’d encourage them to visit a showroom to speak to the experts. “We know the interior designers and the stonemasons and we see all the latest innovations and ideas and we absolutely love talking to people about what they can do with stone. It’s not like we only get excited about a big, six-slab kitchen job. We love helping people do something a bit different.”
He says technology has also come a long way. Stonemasons are no longer just relying on bridge saws but have much more sophisticated wet-cutting machinery which makes things like curves much easier to achieve.
“Repeating the use of stone throughout your home in different ways is a great way to have continuity and cohesion, like a hallway credenza, a bathroom vanity, a kitchen shelf and some bedside tables. We personally love finding uses for odds and sods and seeing them made into something beautiful.”
Nathan says it is exciting to see people experimenting with stones beyond the grey and white with vibrant red and greens, blues, pastel tones and every colour in between becoming more popular in marbles and quartzites. His biggest problem is keeping up with the renewed demand for natural stone in the light of the engineered stone changes, and shipping delays that can occur.
His advice to interior designers and homeowners is to be thinking about the different, smaller uses they might have for the offcuts when they come to pick their slabs for the benchtops, for example. “If it’s a 2.5 slab job, it means buying three slabs and if it’s a 3.5 slab job, it means buying four slabs, and so on. Those leftovers might as well be turned into something!”
