Calacatta Michelangelo Or Statuario Venato?

We’ve just came back from Italy. Again. As a matter of fact, it has been already the third business trip this year to one of our most favourite countries.

We love Italy. The food. The wine. The culture. The architecture. The landscapes. Gelati. Italian design. Oh, and the beaches. And the chaos… yes, even the chaos is more charming in Italy than elsewhere in the world. But today we’d like to talk about something different. It’s obviously not really something you’d only find in Italy, but certainly it’s one of the best places to go shopping for it: Stone.

As we usually get more involved in the exterior design of yachts, stone hasn’t been so much on our radar before. That is not to say that we weren’t interested. After all, we are always curious and while we might not be professionally involved, we certainly have a keen interest in architecture for example. Having said that, we love doing interior design just as much, and we love working with the different materials such as wood, fabrics and stone.

When we went to Carrara, we weren’t unprepared of course. For the project we are currently working on the outfitters have their dedicated stone suppliers who scouted beforehand (according to the designer’s ‘shopping list’), so we knew where we would go and what we would see. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t keep our eyes wide open. In fact, coquine![design] is all about staying open-minded and getting inspired by what we see, wherever we go. And boy, there was a lot of inspiration available: Striato Olimpico, Statuario Venato, Calacatta in various shades, not to mention all the subtle hues of limestone. And then there’s Nero Potoro, Travertine, Pietra Grey, Fior Di Bosco, Nero Boreale… and a million more! As a matter of fact, we came back so inspired, all we need are a few more project to apply these!

And then we can go back to Italy for another shopping trip. Doesn’t sound like the worst thing to us.