Squire & Partners was invited by Stone Federation of Great Britain to design the central feature of the Stone Gallery at Surface Design Show 2020, with the aim of creating a bespoke installation that would highlight the different innovative uses and applications of natural stone.

Stone Tapestry was designed to showcase eighteen stone types exploring innovative textures, light, colour and pattern to create a tapestry of inspiring materials from around the world.

The curated selection ranged from marble, onyx and quartzite to slate and limestone to create a kaleidoscope of tones from off-whites, vibrant yellows and pastel pinks through to dramatic greens, reds, browns and blacks.

Squire & Partners worked in collaboration with high-end natural stone supplier SolidNature, Italian furniture maker Lema SpA and lighting specialist Atrium to create the installation.

Each sample was finished by SolidNature in seven different ways – polished, honed, sand-blasted, leathered, corrugated, ribbed and ‘pillowed’ – to demonstrate the beauty and versatility of natural stone.

A large world map above the installation showed the provenance of the stones which came from quarries in China, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Iran and India.

Three stones from the UK were included – Portland Stone by Albion Stone, Broughton Moor by Burlington Stone and Caithness Flagstone by Marshalls.

Sustainability within the industry was addressed with a third of SolidNature’s samples being created from off-cuts, and photographic postcards detailing information on each stone type replacing bulky stone samples.