An Ode to Marble
Are we so tied to perfectionism, that we cannot stand to see nature for the raw, unfiltered, glorious beauty that it is?
I have this theory, that engineered stone is doing to marble what social media —and back in the good ol' days, magazines— has done to our self esteem. It has made us believe that what is completely natural, is not actually something to be desired. Aging, blemishes, and any other kinds of imperfections are not to be seen. Permanent youth and impeccable looks are the ideal.
At some point, the quartz industry has led us to believe that what we really want in our kitchen countertops is something completely symmetrical, in the whitest shade possible, with nary a vein out of place, and altogether perfectly generic.
Gone is appreciating the individuality that natural stone brings, because natural stone brings variance, and variance lies outside the realm of perfectionism.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, because there are a lot of instances where quartz just works better than the alternatives. But what I am saying, is why should marble be written off so quickly?
Yes, I get it. It etches, it stains, it scratches… It cannot hide the marks of the life it has lived. And for that, it is punished. Banished to the corners of the home where it may be better preserved and more likely to avoid any kind of atrophy.
However, it is from marble that we revel in some of the greatest and most famous works of art in our civilization's history: Michelangelo's Statue of David, the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon, the Pantheon.. and so on and so forth. These 'marble-ous' masterpieces attract thousands of tourists year after year; their timeless, elegant beauty still holding strong despite withstanding centuries of existence. No doubt there is a considerable amount of care poured into preserving these artifacts, but it still goes to show that marble is made to stand the test of time.
Marble is formed deep within the Earth's crust over millions of years. Any marble slab —or really any natural stone— you see on display in a slab yard, has been subject to millions (and in some cases, billions) of years of heat and pressure. It's seen a thing or two in this planet's lifetime. To then have a piece of that in your home, is to have a piece of Earth's history in the same place where you are writing your own life story. It's through your daily living, that you leave a mark on something that was there before you and will exist long after you're gone. The stains, the scratches, the marks… they're all proof of a life being lived.
Those stains your toddler created by spilling his orange juice on the counter? You'll wince now, but you'll look back at them with nostalgia later, remembering those uncoordinated little hands and that triumphant smile on their face for drinking from a cup all on their own.
The etches left behind from a champagne toast gone wrong during a fun evening with friends? You'll be texting your friend one day saying "hey, remember when?" Small mementos to trigger fond memories.
We look at marble's propensity to age as a sign of its weakness, rather than a feature that enables us to hold on to pieces of our story in a unique, tangible way.
Society - and mostly, big corporations profiting from the use of engineered stone - have tried to perpetuate this narrative that natural stone is too imperfect and too susceptible to ruin that it can't possibly be the best option for your home design. The irony is that nothing in nature is meant to be perfect and yet, it's only the materials we get from nature that have the power to provide consistent value and an enduring legacy.