Not long ago I was asked to find a marble I was not familiar with, Arabescato Orobico. It was to be for bar tops and wall cladding in the The Shangri La Hotel located in The Shard. Unlike the material more commonly known as Arabescato (featured in the product section on this site) the Orobico (grey version – there is a Rosso too) is a anthracite/blue silvery grey with some mustard/brown aspects all mixed up with the most incredible movement and markings.

A few months ago I visited our Travertine supplier in Tuscany to inspect a block of Travertine Noce (Walnut) for a project we were to supply. We needed 300sqm 30mm Travertine cladding for a prestigious office refurbishment in London. The brief from the architect was the material had to be Italian Noce from Rome and for the Travertine to exhibit strong linear veining/strata.