Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Marble has long adorned the home. Its natural antibacterial properties and multitude of finishes lend refinement to a space. The most popular marbles are the blacks, greys and bright whites quarried in the Italian region of Carrara, but sleek, spa-like interiors need not be monochrome. A peek inside the homes of leading designers reveals an array of technicolour marbles.Take the Parisian bathroom of Officine Universelle Buly founders Ramdane Touhami and Victoire de Taillac-Touhami, which is entirely finished in stone. “We went to the marble mason and had fun choosing the colours we liked,” says Touhami of the burgundy Rosso Levanto and green Verde Guatemala marbles used on the sink, bath and walls. Together with the terrazzo flooring (made up of marble chippings set in cement), they create an atmosphere that is both polished and playful. At the West Sussex flat of interiors architect Martin Brudnizki, white Arabescato and honey-coloured Siena marble (the egg-yolk marble of Italy) come together in large matte wall panels and high-shine checkerboard floor tiles. “The bathroom was created with the vision of an American heiress coming to live in England,” says Brudnizki of his “Arcadian fantasy”. “During the 1920s and ’30s marble was very popular so it made sense to introduce a lot of it to the space,” he says. He has also used the material in several of his projects. For the Apollo’s Muse members’ club in Mayfair, Brudnizki deployed six different marbles from floor to ceiling. Not a fan of audacious marble slabs, British designer Ashley Hicks found a more subtle way to embrace the material’s varied tones in his mosaic patterns for Bisazza. The three “Marmosaico” designs, launched last year, use small square tiles in a palette of greens, browns and reds. Unlike mass-produced glass tesserae, “Each tiny cube of [marble] mosaic is different,” says Hicks, “so it creates a very lively texture.” Eltham is geometric and deco-inspired, Haddon borrows its pattern from a fragment of Syrian cloth and Alma Tadema recalls basketry – “it feels like it’s woven”.Each tiny cube of marble mosaic is differentOther marble mosaics include Italian artist Elena Salmistraro’s Hagia tiles for Lithea, which use rounded pieces of marble with copper strips and black and white stone, and Surface Gallery’s Baroque Stone Mosaics, a traditional diamond pattern in green, pink and cream marble. The latter were used across floors and walls in the Bennett & Barkell salon in New South Wales, alongside pink countertops in Tiberio marble, an Esmeralda marble sink and wooden and wicker finishes for a warm, Mediterranean feel.Northern Italian manufacturer Del Savio 1910 combines 10 Italian marbles with colourful cements to produce unusual surfaces for kitchen islands, partition walls and shower niches. Dutch designer Mae Engelgeer envisaged its Eidola Myth panel (£1,585) using 8mm sheets of Bianco di Carrara, Cipollino, Rosa Asiago, and Verde Guatemala marbles, intersected by a powder pink cement resin. Design duo Zanellato/Bortotto created an irregular pattern called Opus Certum Vague (£1,750), and later devised the “Marble Marbling” collection, which is “inspired by the ancient marbling technique used in wallpaper”, says Del Savio 1910 sales manager Enrico Mele. Aqueous patterns are improbably reproduced in green, white and yellow stone on trays (£1,815) and vases (£2,250).Marble’s vibrant colours and dramatic veining form naturally as limestone is recrystallised under extreme heat and pressure. Extraction and manufacturing is intensive and wasteful – more than 600,000 tonnes of marble waste is produced each year – which leads many designers to use marble offcuts. Artist Liam Tickner started Marmoformo in 2021, creating tabletops (from £1,800) using leftovers from marble manufacturers around London. His colourful compositions of Italian, Portuguese and Indian marble are set in a resin strengthened with marble dust and coloured with pigments. “It’s a very joyful way to bring them together,” he says. Fashion blogger Camille Charrière turned heads when she revealed her custom-made salvaged marble dining table a few years ago. Her inspiration came from the tiled shop floors of Phoebe Philo-era Céline, plus the striped marble flooring installed by artist Martin Creed at Mexico City’s Museo Jumex. Unable to buy the old tiles from Celine’s renovated London store, Charrière turned to London brand Marble.Partners, which assembled the table top with a patchwork of reclaimed slabs. Marble.Partners is relaunching this summer with a series of tables from its new manufacturing facilities in South Tyrol.For those looking to mix marbles, “start by selecting stones with complementary tones or vein patterns”, says Karolina Wierzbicka, head of design at holiday home developer August. “Pairing a bold, heavily veined marble with a more subtle, uniform one creates a dynamic yet harmonious look.” And the bigger the room, the bolder you can be with contrasts, she says. Mixed marble accessories like Patricia Urquiola’s candy-striped Origami coffee table (£13,725) and Agua Marea console (£12,625) for Budri, or Michele Chiossi’s Bauhaus-inspired Supra candleholder for Mmairo (£550) can achieve a similar effect.“There is something inherently fabulous about a mix of marbles; it feels flamboyant,” says Anna Karlin, whose two-tone Block side table comes in three different colour combinations (from $8,775). “I liked using it on a very geometric, unfussy form, in contrast to the glamour of the material and the colours,” she says. In her own home she built a custom bar featuring various marbles set into scalloped edged concrete. Her advice? “Don’t be shy.”
