Marble brings to mind luxury and a touch of decadence. The Spanish Steps, Italian patios, French foyers: marble is the common denominator and the stone of choice among architects, builders, and artists. For this reason, so many people in our social media feed love sharing their newly-installed, Insta-perfect marble kitchen islands or marble-accented furniture: hallmarks of beauty and elegance for some. But what is all the fuss about, it's just a rock. Why are we so obsessed?
Marble sparks our imagination. Safe to say it has earned fans over millennia. If you've ever sat out on a beach in northern Italy (say, Forte dei Marmi or Viareggio), you may have gazed up at what looks like snow-capped mountains. But what appears to be snow from afar is actually a wealth of white marble called the Apuan Alps. Men have cut into those marble mountains long before Michelangelo came around, making his famous Pieta and David sculptures possible.
Amazing to think that a single slab of marble allowed the artist to create enduring pieces that capture Renaissance ideals of both classical beauty and naturalism.
Marble has since moved out of those Italian quarries and has traveled to places we tend to associate with wealth: first ancient Rome, then Victorian London, then New York in the 20th century. Today we glimpse it in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Beijing, and in large-scale construction in Mecca, Saudia Arabia.
Marble is available to us in many colors and compositions. We luxuriate in its remarkably cool surfaces. The way that it fragments over time into tiny, branching veins somehow makes us think of running water. We are mesmerized. Its surfaces tell different stories, shows us something different in different contexts. We make connections, see what we want to see in its one-of-a-kind cuts.
Take, for instance, Treehut’s new Sapphire Blue Marble. Its face, radiant blue with splotches of swirling white, looks eerily like the image of that other famous Blue Marble: planet Earth captured in 1972 by the Apollo 17 spacecraft crew on the last manned lunar mission. We see this in our mind's eye because today, it remains one of the most reproduced images in human history.
It is because of its mysterious patterns that marble continues to make moves in many areas of the world stage. It is a perennial muse, for example, in men’s fashion, with its mottled motifs making cameos on recent international runways. A splash of marbled pattern here and there adds graphic detail and dimension to an otherwise minimalist, monochromatic wardrobe. For those looking for more, marble can play a part of some curious combinations, in wild clashes with other patterns for a rebellious, give-no-care, rose-out-of-bed-put-everything-on vibe that magically works.
The fact that marble’s fragmented pattern shows up over and over makes a larger statement about how we always insist on reconstructing our past, present, and future to make it work for us.
The new APEX Marble + Steel watch collection from Treehut offers you a way to claim a piece of this world heritage to accompany you or your loved one on their next big moves. Set into your choice of either silver or black stainless steel, our select, all-natural stones are available in four select marble moods and colors: arctic white, sapphire blue, tempest green, or smoke black.
A flash of marble on the wrist as a sharp sculptural detail or worn with other patterns for a cultural mash-up.
It’s the watch of strength and distinction. The rock with a heritage of oversized proportions for oversized ambitions.
Climb that mountain, finish that project, run that marathon, paint that mural. Go far. Make memories and milestones with your marble, or gift him a piece of history.
For more inspiration, we invite you to visit our Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and the rest of our website.
Great writing !