1 St. Hilaire Church by Mathieu Lehanneur
Within a Romanesque church in Melle, France, designer Mathieu Lehanneur was given the rare opportunity to insert a contemporary interpretation of an altar. He used layers of marble to simulate sedimentary formations, and alabaster for the liturgical furnishings.
2 Mercuric Table by Citco
Zaha Hadid worked with Italian stone company Citco to create tables in three amorphous variations. The limited edition collection is available in black Marquina, or Bianco di Covelano with gold veining.
3 Earthquake 5.9 by Budri
In May 2012, northern Italy was rocked by an earthquake that destroyed tons of quarried stone. Using the onyx and marble fragments that filled the stockyards of Budri, designer Patricia Urquiola created a stunning series of unique objects, including this wall-mounted shelf.
4 Inversion by Steven Holl
Six limestone blocks incised with voids were on view in Milan this spring. New York architect Steven Holl sketched out his ideas for the massive volumes and had them digitally cut in Italy. They now form part of the landscape at the Performing Arts Center in Princeton, New Jersey.
5 Bjhon 2 by Agape
Italian maestro Angelo Mangiarotti conceived of this iconic basin for Agape in 1970. Available as free-standing or counter top units.
6 Elementare by Studio Lievito
These four primary shapes are in fact culinary tools: the sphere grinds spices, the cylinder rolls dough, the cube scales fish, and the prism chops vegetables. Studio Lievito of Florence, Italy, came up with this ingeniously elegant kitchen countertop design.
7 Marble with Fluorescent Tube by Gallery House
First Canadian Place, Toronto’s tallest skyscraper, was recently re-clad and the original Carrara marble shell removed. Savvy local designers are now buying up the material to create products, including this light by Brian Richer of Castor Design, with a fluorescent bulb resting in a groove carved into the marble base. galleryhouse.ca
8 Distrito 38 by Arata Isozaki
One of the office buildings to emerge within Barcelona’s new tech hub, known only as Building 1, is the work of Arata Isozaki, who gave weight to the main entrance with giant sculptural marble forms you can sit in.