Gravina Side Table

The urn is the oldest shape in the stonecutter's repertoire — a full belly drawn into a narrow neck, the profile that vases, balusters and fountain stems have all borrowed from. Cut at this scale it holds the floor without taking up much of it.

The top is dished rather than flat, with a lip turned into the outer edge, so it works as a tray as much as a surface. The lip is deep enough to stop a glass travelling and shallow enough to disappear across a room.

The stone is a breccia — pale angular fragments locked into a darker matrix, a pattern set when the rock formed rather than cut into it afterward. On the turned belly of the pedestal the fragments stretch and wrap, so the same block reads differently at every angle.

The piece shown is representative. No two are identical. Also made in a dark stone, as the Matera Urn Side Table.

Dust with a soft dry cloth. Blot spills at once — pale stone is porous and marks readily, and acidic liquids will etch a honed surface. Use coasters beneath glassware, and avoid abrasive or acidic cleaners.