London-based furniture designer Robin Grasby interprets terrazzo in a handmade way using 87% recycled materials. Industrial waste from the cutting of stone, including dust, gravel and broken slabs, is bonded with a small quantity (13%) of resin to create a strong, low-maintenance surface. Instead of imposing geometric motifs, Grasby opts for a random arrangement of the marble pieces, reflecting the natural irregularity of stone textures.
The designer from Brooklyn Robert Sukrachand also gets away from classic terrazzo schemes, while conserving the material’s roots. Instead of stone fragments he uses glass waste from the production of his collection of mirrors. This is an ‘epoxy’ terrazzo in which the cement is replaced by resin as a binder, mixed with marble dust for a matte finish. The colored and antique-finish pieces of the mirrors are cut into organic forms, resembling stone fragments. Finally, the pieces are polished with marble paste for a satin finish. The Mirazzo collection takes its cue from park benches, public park checkerboards and the typical three-legged stools of Bangkok, in a tribute to the designer’s family roots. The result is Thai Terrazzo.
Silipol is the material that was used by Franco Albini and Franca Helg to cover the walls of the M1 line of the Milan Metro. A recyclable industrial product composed of spheres of granite, marble and cement, pressed without synthetic additives, which is the protagonist of the furnishings designed by DWA (Frederik De Wachter and Alberto Artesani). “Slabs like abstract paintings, punctuated with colors, each different from the others. The image of this material has remained in a corner of our minds for some time,” the designers say, who then met Mariotti Fulget, the exclusive manufacturer of the material. For Caffè Populaire at Alcova, DWA has made a table that reinterprets the traditional Palladiana, with sheets two centimeters thick and various pieces of Silipol, displaying its chromatic variety and texture. The intrinsic versatility of terrazzo suggests the use of alternative ingredients in its mixture, as well as experimental processes for the production of the sheets to reduce waste to a minimum.