Marble Inlay: what it is and why choose it
Inlay in marble is a prestigious decorative technique that creates compositions with different marble types, making them adhere to a flat surface. The inlay work involves several kinds of materials: the first decorative wood inlay records date back to ancient Egypt. At the same time, those related to marble and stones were found in Asia Minor.
Marble inlay has always been used for decorative purposes: first, it embellished royal castles’ walls, then floors, surfaces, and furniture.
Over the centuries, it has established itself as one of the most relevant decorative techniques thanks to the accuracy and expertise with which it was realized.
If once it was the chisel and the gouge, state-of-the-art technology has made it possible today to have a more precise cut, faster production times, and close to zero material waste.
Opus collection and Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables show how marble inlay has improved over the years. They have been conceived and processed through serial manufacturing processes that optimize raw material use.
Discover all Lithos Design’s projects and let yourself be inspired!
What is marble inlay: technique and definition
Inlay in marble is a sculptural technique that combines different kinds of marble and stone, creating a decorative pattern where elements in different stones are interlaid on a flat surface. Indeed, the Latin name in-tarsus states the interlaid elements on the marble tarsa.
The client opts for the decorative pattern of the marble inlay, and then accurate material research follows to select the stones and marbles to interlay.
The making involves decorative stone and marble elements and the flat surface on which custom-shaped holes are carved out to hold these elements.
Since always, marble inlay has been synonymous with luxury and prestige because it merges unique and refined materials to ultimate manufacturing with a noteworthy legacy.
The spread of marble inlay
Inlay in marble was born in Asia Minor around 350 BC to enrich the walls of royal castles; only later, it spread in Europe, mainly in Italy, during Ancient Rome.
The traditional marble inlay technique wasn’t the only decorative trend here. The Opus Sectile technique took center stage in Ancient Rome, even if it was slightly different than marble inlay. Like the mosaic technique, the Opus Sectile technique pulled together the decorative elements, completely hiding the flat surface below.
From the first half of the 1st century BC, marble inlay and Opus sectile are widely used, making them a decorative trend in public buildings and residential abodes.
During the Renaissance, marble inlay reached its highest point in Italy thanks to Ferdinando I de Medici, who founded the Workshop for Hard Stone (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) in Tuscany.
Then, during the Baroque Age, Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, called the leading artisans of Florence to teach this outstanding decorative technique to the artisans of Naples and founded the “Real Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure”(Royal Laboratory of pietra dura).
During this period, inlay in marble stepped further, interlaying relief elements. It is used for wall coverings, floorings, furniture, and table tops.
Discover how Lithos Design has realized marble inlaid coverings, marble inlaid tiles, marble inlay floorings, marble-inlaid coffee tables, and marble-inlaid dining tables.
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Marble inlay in contemporary design
Marble inlay is still widely used to design floor and wall coverings, coffee tables, and dining tables, confirming its charm and allure nowadays. A more classic style evoking floral and natural patterns lives together with more minimal and clean styles encompassing geometric motifs.
Marble inlay’s advantages
Sustainability in marble inlay and technology
The “Opus” marble-inlaid wallcoverings and floors and the Fillo and Gessato marble-inlaid coffee and dining tables by Lithos Design trace a significant turning point between traditional and modern inlay.
If these models embody the prestige and luxury of the traditional inlay technique regarding the material palette and refined patterns, they trace a relevant step further in production methods. Cutting-edge technology meets the competence of craftspeople, letting them further perfect their work with faster timing and, consequently, lower costs. These state-of-the-art processing methods improve marble inlay, making it a more sustainable design with faster production timing, close-to-zero material waste, and ready-to-use products.
Versatile design
Opus‘ marble-inlaid floors and wall coverings by Lithos Design meet many requests from interior designers and architects thanks to its rich chromatic and pattern options, including 6 textures, 14 chromatic palettes, and 33 marbles. For those who have never chosen marble inlay because of its too-much aesthetic code, the Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables will make them change their minds.
Innovative Technology
Like all Lithos Design collections, Opus, Fillo, and Gessato stand out for their serial production manufacturing, too, allowing for faster production timing, near-zero material waste, and a wider chromatic and pattern choice.
Discover the Opus collection by Lithos Design
The marble inlay technique has always had a historical legacy in Italy. For this reason, Lithos Design has conceived a collection of marble-inlaid floors and wallcoverings, whose name, Opus, evokes the famous Opus Sectile technique in Ancient Rome.
The Opus marble-inlaid floors and walls show a modern vision of the inlay from an aesthetic and processing point of view, yet preserving its historical value.
The Opus’ models are Allegro, Anemone, Bambù, Mikado, Tangram, and Piano. These six textures bring back the marble inlay concept with state-of-the-art manufacturing processing, allowing for optimized use of natural material and faster productive timing.
The models are mostly available in many chromatic palettes, showing great aesthetic versatility according to the spaces interior designers and architects have to conceive; the accurate selection of worldwide colorful marbles creates different, always elegant, and timeless chromatic combinations.
– Allegro is a lively and bright texture like the musical composition of the same name.
– Bambù evokes a light natural vegetable screen, like a picket fence, and is available in two chromatic palettes, Bambù Foresta and Bambù Deserto.
– Mikado, intriguing like a game, shows an orderly chaos of brightly colored sticks.
– For Anemone, hemispherical shapes that appear to move as if lightly suspended in water. This texture is available in the Anemone Perla and Anemone Muschio palettes.
– Piano unveils a sophisticated, and evergreen graphic language. It is available in the Piano Memphis, Piano Aloe, Piano Chaplin, Piano Patchwork, and Piano Ginger palettes.
– Tangram is an echo of outlines, an infinite number of figures that follow one another in their perfect dose of colors. It is available in the Tangram Memphis, Tangram Aloe, Tangram Chaplin, Tangram Patchwork, and Tangram Ginger palettes.
Look at the interiors with our marble-inlaid floors and wallcoverings from the Opus collection, and let yourself be inspired!
The contemporary inlaid-marble dining and coffee tables by Lithos Design
Lithos Design paid homage to marble inlay, taking inspiration from the tradition of applying the inlay to furniture, such as dining and coffee tables.
Fillo and Gessato are two collections of charming minimal inlaid-marble dining and coffee tables. Conceived by designer Raffaello Galiotto, they embody a contemporary aesthetic code of marble inlay. The Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables have inlaid-marble tabletops in marble Carrara Ghiaccio and Nero Marquinia.
Like the Opus collection, the Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables have been conceived and realized through innovative technologies that ensure serial production, fast production timing, and near-zero waste material.
Gessato inlaid-marble coffee and dining tables show tabletops made of a single marble slab marked by thin lines only partially inserted into the thickness, letting the marble veins extend randomly across the entire surface.
The marble slab and interlaid lines are in the contrasting colors of Nero Marquinia and Carrara Ghiaccio.
The Fillo marble-inlaid coffee and dining tables stand out for an interlaid element on the edge of the tables, giving the illusion of a multi-layer surface. Instead, the tabletop is a single slab on which the marble inlay is inserted on the edge; again, the marble-inlaid table combines two marbles, Carrara Ghiaccio and Nero Marquinia.
The Fillo and Gessato marble-inlaid dining and coffee tables show how an antique tradition can be reviewed in a contemporary aesthetic code and with processing technology that permits designers to go beyond product concepts.
Why choose Lithos Design’s marble inlay for your interiors
Marble inlay has always been a decorative sculptural technique to enrich spaces and lend them prestige and luxury. The selection of different marbles and stones makes every marble product a highly charming decorative element; the wide range of stone combinations widens interior designers’ and architects’ possibilities to find the combo that best fits their style.
The Opus collection includes six patterns that can fit many interior design styles, from minimal to bold.
For those looking for marble inlay applied to furniture, the Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables are an unmissable pick for a cutting-edge, contemporary, and minimal inlay in marble.
How to choose and use marble inlay
A marble-inlaid wall covering or floor can create a feature wall or floor in interior design projects.
At the Rise Hotel in Osaka, the Design Works Sol studio opted for Lithos Design’s Piano marble inlaid wall and floor to conceive a continuum between wall and floor, tailoring a bold hotel lobby.
The interior designer, Stacey Cohen, opted for Lithos Design’s Tangram Patchwork wallcovering and floor as the backsplash of Rosermary’s kitchen.
And why not use the same Tangram Patchwork texture in the sunroom of an exclusive residence in London by Studio MILO?
The Mikado marble-inlaid flooring, pictured in a dark palette, welcomes dwellers and guests in an apartment in Moscow by Natela Mankaeva – Decorator N Studio.
The Tangram Patchwork marble-inlaid covering welcomes guests to the Sheraton Park in Anaheim, conceived by MDR Architects.
Again, the multicolor triangles of Tangram Ginger become the decorative pivot at the Revery Bar of the Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London, created by AvroKO.
The Gessato marble-inlaid tables, instead, lend a touch of clean and minimal elegance to an industrial bistrot with bohemian vibes, both in its dining and coffee sizes.
The Fillo marble-inlaid dining tables furnish a workspace tailoring a space that boosts workers’ focus, not forgetting style.
In the coffee table size, Fillo finishes a relaxing room where to let ideas flow and relax.
Marble inlays have been synonymous with prestige and luxury since always, thanks to the legacy it has reached during different historical periods. Lithos Design paid homage to this decorative milestone, reviewing them from productive and aesthetic points of view.
The Fillo and Gessato marble-inlaid tables and the Opus wallcoverings and floors distinguished themselves for chromatic and pattern versatility, fast manufacturing processes, and close-to-zero material waste.
Discover all the models from the Opus collection and the Fillo and Gessato dining and coffee tables: whether you have a project ready or just an idea, contact us, and we will find the most suitable marble inlay!
