The Beginning Is Raw
Where form is still an idea
Before an object takes shape, there is only a block.
Heavy. Raw. Untouched.
But not empty.
Rather: full of possibility.
This stone already holds everything within it –
the tension, the volume,
the lines that will later become visible.
And yet it shows none of that – not yet.
The beginning is not the design.
The beginning is the act of seeing.
Of recognising potential – and limits.
Material awareness begins in the quarry
Anyone who works with natural stone knows:
not every block suits every form.
Some inclusions impose limits.
Some textures suggest a direction.
And yes – it’s about colour.
About structure.
About the interplay of surface, depth, and veining.
But most of all, it’s about whether
this particular stone
reveals something
of what we seek to make visible with Marvalet.
We don’t give the material its character.
We read it.
And shape it – freely.
Design doesn’t arise against the material –
but with it.
No object without origin
What later appears calm and refined
begins here –
in dust, in heat,
and in the decision to be precise.
The story of each centerpiece at Marvalet
begins with a block like this.
Not in the studio.
Not on a screen.
But out there –
in light, craft, and patience.
Because every object has an origin.
And that origin isn’t polished.
It is raw.