Flamboyant Stone

The Alentejo region of southern Portugal produces excellent wine, music, and most of all, stone. Stone workers in other parts of Europe all know that the stone of Portugal is kind of like over-the-top. It seems often even theatrical in its dramatic colours and patterns — fancy in the extreme.

We were in Portugal a month ago looking through stoneyards for slabs of marble that were perhaps not right for the construction trades but perfect for our tables and other strange stuff.

We found beautiful marble with pink, yellow, green and purple striations. Onyx-like sheets one centimeter thick which change light as it passes through. We found discarded scraps which have shapes that seem natural and un-natural at the same time.   And bought as much as we could afford.

We recomend that anyone sitting by our stones in the future listen to Alfredo Marceneiro sing Fado. He was once a cabinetmaker, hence the name