Terrazzo has made a contemporary comeback in spades. Today's designers are bringing this speckly stone material into the 21st century, and terrazzo coffee tables, benches and other pieces of terrazzo furniture are finding their way into interiors all over the world.
Terrazzo is everywhere. Forget terrazzo flooring — we’re not talking about the drab material used for school corridors and hospital rooms in 1960s and ’70s. Today, terrazzo comes in an array of fresh and stylish varieties, including multicolor and white with black dots, like chocolate-chip ice cream, its characteristic speckles delicate or chunky. It graces the interiors of top hotels, luxury boutiques and contemporary homes. And it’s incorporated into lamps, seating, bookcases and tabletops.
“Terrazzo has been around forever. It is so vast and varied and lasts a lifetime,” says New York–based Australian interior designer Tali Roth. “The Instagram and Pinterest age leave us all wanting more uniqueness in our spaces, and I think terrazzo really does that for many interiors.”
The mosaic material originated in 15th-century Venice, where workers gathered marble scraps left over from the construction of palazzos and villas and embedded them in clay for their own terraces. Soon the clever composite was being used for the floors of Venetian palaces and Milanese entry halls. Eventually, it made its way to the U.S., where, in the 1920s, it became the flooring of choice.
Along the way, clay was replaced by cement and concrete, then epoxy resin. These stronger binders allow a larger variety of chips to be used, differing in material — from marble to granite to recycled glass — and size, from tiny specks to statement-making hunks.
The design possibilities of the Renaissance’s favorite DIY material are endless — find a collection of terrazzo furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
