There is no denying the increase in stone choice out there now. 

Classics such as Portland will always be desirable because they have a lot of history behind them. They have been used in important projects and will always have a place.

Likewise Italian marbles – Carrara is still in huge demand. It’s distinctive and says quality. That is going nowhere, either.

But from a client and designer perspective a wider choice has got to be a good thing. At the very high-end people are always looking for something nobody else has. Certainly the material will play a big part in that.

A lot of our work is not about the money but achieving something unique, or at least really special. The world is a smaller place now. Covid-19 apart, it is easy for me to pop across to Europe and personally select a material to use.

Advances in technology have also increased the choice. Some beautiful materials weren’t used in the past because they were too fragile; too unstable. Marbles with great texture, created by faults and fissures, were difficult to work with as there was a strong chance they would fall apart when you started chiselling. Now there are ways of treating the stone to give it stability.

All of a sudden beautiful stones that would not even have been considered 40-50 years ago can be safely used and enjoyed.

Part of the art of masonry is understanding the stone. That takes time and experience. Life would be a whole lot easier if we stuck with the two or three traditional materials, but it would also be more mundane.

When you finish a project using a challenging material that is hard to work, unpredictable and takes real effort to clean up, but when you step back looks absolutely superb... those are the projects that are truly gratifying.

If you boil it down, choice keeps it interesting for us masons as well, although sometimes when you’re battling a tough material or awkward project you can look back to a time when you were using a local sandstone and dream of the easy life.

On a commercial level, using such a vast range of materials requires a new, open-minded approach. And that combination of new materials and new ways of using them has made it possible for us to push boundaries of construction, design and aesthetic.

The final challenge we have is managing clients’ expectations.

We recently used a stunning red Italian marble that, from the same stock of stone, was a mixture of red and purple, sometimes even a creamy white. A full staircase will show that variation. In one person’s eyes that is beautiful. In another’s it’s unacceptable.

For us it’s about understanding what our client wants to achieve and helping them understand what is and isn’t possible with their choice of stone.

For me, choice keeps it interesting and rewarding. For clients, choice opens a world of possibilities. For the environment it is allowing us to use materials that would once have been waste. So, yes, choice is a good thing. Even if it does  make my life more complicated.