Tropical Storm

A blue-tinged grey across which white and cream waves move in a real, diagonal swell — dense at the top of the slab and opening out below, exactly as the name promises. The contrast is medium-high, and the movement is legible from any distance.

At 348 cm this is the longest slab in stock, which matters: a long continuous run can come out of it with no joint, and the movement will carry along it uninterrupted. It works well in a restrained kitchen — matte cabinetry in white, grey or blue-grey.

Quartzite is a metamorphic natural stone: quartz sand compacted under heat and pressure until it became a single crystalline rock. It is harder than marble and usually harder than granite — a knife, salt or a ceramic plate leave no mark — and unlike marble it does not etch from lemon or vinegar. It is porous, though: the slab is sealed before delivery, and resealing every year or two keeps it that way. There is no resin in it as there is in engineered quartz, so a hot pan will not scorch it — a trivet is still a good habit, particularly near an edge or a joint.

Every slab is one single piece of rock, and no two slabs of the same stone are ever identical. So we drive out to the supplier's yard with you, choose the actual slab there, and mark the layout on it before it is cut.