Marble embodies a particularly fascinating dichotomy between soft and hard, fluid and rigid, monolithic and delicate. A material which has connotations of opulence, classicism and gossamer has incredible versatility, with its watery striations and ease to carve contradicting its seemingly uncompromising solidity. Pertinently represented recently on a vast scale in Brady Corbet’s ‘The Brutalist’, the Carrara marble quarries in Tuscany are often the starting point in the life cycle of beautiful objects, sculpture and architecture, with examples found in our recently completed villa on Lake Como. Here we investigate the practitioners, researchers and designers that utilise marble as a contemporary source of expression.

 

Tommi Lindh – CEO of the Alvar Aalto Foundation

The Finlandia Hall in Helsinki stands proudly as a shimmering beacon of hope and prosperity within a city delineated by mid-century design. Realised by the visionary architect Alvar Aalto, the building was arguably his magnum opus when completed in 1971. Following its reopening, we spoke with CEO of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, Tommi Lindh, to discuss its headstrong marble façades, cultural significance and legacy.

‘In some ways you could call Finlandia Hall Aalto’s swan song. His last effort to try to put everything he admires into one building, and there are reflections of the Helsinki city centre designs he had done during the 1960’s that weren’t realised but amalgamated into the hall. This idea of the Finlandia Hall being one of his last works, being one of the biggest buildings that he ever designed, placed in a prominent central location and being wrapped in marble, is highly significant. There has not been an appreciation towards the Finlandia Hall forever. The appreciation started in the 1990’s, when they were preparing for the centennial; I think that’s when the leading architects in Finland changed their views and started embracing it. In January this year, we nominated Aalto works to be part of the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Finlandia Hall is the youngest example of 13 in that nomination, testament to its lasting impact on 21^st century Helsinki. ‘

 

Superflex – Design studio

Danish design studio Superflex recently completed Play Contract; a playscape composed from marble blocks in collaboration with KWY.studio and 121 children from Billund. The installation is a prime example of how a community can contribute to public spaces full of vibrancy and meaning.

‘Marble symbolically elevates a child’s notion of material language, with connotations stemming from public monuments to kings and queens. It positions the children’s ideas and creativity at the same level as public sculptures of royalty or historical figures. We wanted to utilise damaged pink stone, with high amounts of variation, for the playscape’s cubic forms. This ‘don’t waste waste’ philosophy synthesises high level craft with the freedom of play, bypassing the lens of opulence that marble is regularly observed through.’

 

William Peers – Sculptor

After his tutor suffered from whiplash following an accident, William Peers began his journey in stone carving to help his mentor finish a sculpture. Shortly after, in his early twenties, William sold a piece at the RA Summer Show and has been pushing the capabilities of marble ever since.

‘I’m attracted to the truth of materials. Henry Moore was very keen on this. A rock should look like a rock, heavy and inexorable. Moore’s stone carvings never lost their essential ‘rockiness’, he was being honest to the material and that holds a pertinence to me. There is no other stone I could do my carvings out of because of the strength of marble. It’s a whole shape existing in space made from one block. It’s interesting to consider that if you made the same shape 10 feet high the physics no longer works, and the mass of the stone would collapse in on itself.’

 

Lucy McGrath – Marbler

Lucy McGrath is one of 10 professional paper marblers left in the UK. In 2015 she set up Marmor Paperie with the aim of keeping this methodical and tactile craft alive in an increasingly digitised world. We visited Lucy at Cockpit studios in Deptford, London, to learn about the history and to witness the process of marbling first hand.

‘Marbling is much more prevalent in other country’s (in comparison to the UK), such as Türkiye where it’s UNESCO protected. There’s lots of funding that goes into the education of marbling. Its origins can be closely affiliated to a high art, with many figurative examples, such as detailed tulips and floral scenes that were carefully arranged within the floating ink. Suminagashi, from Japan, is harder to control and very gestural, originating in the eleven hundreds, travelling across the silk road and introduced to Türkiye. That’s where a change occurred between using thin and thick water, the latter of which allows the ink to hold its shape better.’