Author: IvySpace
Published in: 25 Oct 2021
Marble being a natural material has many unique features and is highly desirable in interior and architectural designs.
Sometimes though clients make common mistakes that we thought are worth sharing with this concise article:
Porous vs non porous:
Some materials are much more porous than others, so depending on the use you are after, our team could guide you accordingly. We have had clients that wanted a durable material for outdoor space and then chose a limestone; I guess that has not proved a great idea! Kitchen worktops is another common mistake where clients choose materials just for the looks but in terms of practicality it has been a disaster.
Each natural stone has its own water absorption percentage figures, so feel free to ask IvySpace for your next project. We prefer to be upfront and transparent rather than having unsatisfied and disappointed clients later on.
Cost considerations:
Marble tends to be costly. In some cases, the client would do research online and select the cheaper option. Usually there is a reason why it is that cheap! Quality is important. Having a partner that has wholesale relationships with specific suppliers is key. There are so many variations on the product that even if you see samples, that does not usually help because of the distinctive nature of natural marble.
For example, there are many suppliers advertising popular Greek and Italian marble and they import them from China, Turkey etc. It happens to be that materials look similar to the eye, although their composition might be different.
The Carrara Herringbone is another good example where most of the products sold in the UK market are sourced from Turkey while advertised as Italian.
Don’t get us wrong, there is nothing wrong with materials from different countries but we think to have them falsely advertised is not ethical and goes against IvySpace values.
Quality Grade:
Most marbles have different quality grades. This can have a significant effect on the price. More resins, more crystals, more pink/orange spots in white marbles make the quality lower and thus the price lower.
One good example is Thassos marble which we specialize in : there are so many different grades, starting from Extra, A1 down to Commercial. Commercial is the one that has a lot of spots and shades on it.
What IvySpace calls absolute white (no spots whatsoever to the whole slab), might be different from supplier to supplier depending on their quality control. Some buy an A2 for example from wholesale and advertise it when resell as an A1. Unfortunately we have seen this in the industry so many times so please ask what quality, grade material you buy, but again it comes down to what trustworthy supplier you have and how many years you have been working with them.
Samples:
Asking for samples in marbles can be so misleading! Marble is a natural material so slab by slab, block by block, the result can be so different. Especially with vein looking materials. We heard different horror stories from different clients, this is quite common.
We – at IvySpace – always provide the option to share pictures, videos, close ups of the actual slabs before ordering, in case we do not have them in the UK. We have partner warehouses in Italy and Greece and we do organize client visits depending on the project.
We supply slabs but also tiles; we also provide a “dry lay” service for tiles