Commission 12 · Architectural stonework
Fireplace surround
مدفأة رخام
From a plain mitred slab opening to a carved bolection with a moulded shelf. The constraint is heat: the stone nearest the firebox expands, and if it is trapped by the stone around it, it cracks.
How it is built
The one piece in the room everyone faces.
- Movement joints designed in at the firebox, filled with a heat-tolerant flexible sealant that is the colour of the stone.
- Mouldings run on the CNC then hand-worked, because a machine-only moulding has a deadness to it at this scale.
- Fixed back to a frame, never bonded directly to blockwork that will move.
| Typical size | 1200–1800 mm wide, 1100–1400 mm high |
|---|---|
| Build | Slab or carved bolection, on a fixing frame |
| Heat | Movement joints at the firebox as standard |
Worth knowing before you order
Tell us the appliance before we draw. A wood burner and a gas feature need different clearances and different stone.
Stone
What it is cut from.
For a working fire, granite or a dense marble. Onyx and alabaster are for a gas feature or an ornamental opening only.
Galala Extra
The selected, lightest and most uniform grade of Galala.
Imperial Grey Dark
The deep-toned selection of Imperial Grey, veins on charcoal.
Black Aswan
Dense black with a subtle grey crystal.
Rosa El Nasr
Soft pink feldspar with grey and black speckle.
Breccia Sinai
Cream and rust fragments locked in a pale matrix.
These are stones we hold. See all 94
Also in architectural stonework
Other commissions.
Inlay borders & floor medallions
Greek key, rosettes, compass roses and your own drawing.
Columns, bases & capitals
Turned drums, moulded plinths, and cladding that reads as solid.
Stair treads & helical stringers
Including the ones that curve, which is a different job entirely.
Book-matched & quad-matched panels
Consecutive slabs opened like a book so the vein mirrors.