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FOX MARBLE HELPS HOMEOWNERS REPLICATE TURKISH BATHHOUSE

Opulent marble from Fox Mable was used for a bathroom renovation inspired by the hedonistic hammams of Turkey and the Balkans.

Opulent marble from Fox Mable was used for a bathroom renovation inspired by the hedonistic hammams of Turkey and the Balkans.

The five-bedroom detached villa in a quaint Hertfordshire village is home to an entrepreneur and business executive, who decided to build an extension to accommodate their three children. The floorplan for the extension is almost twice the original size, with plans to build a swimming pool.

As part of the project, a new bathroom was required and the owners wanted to go for an exotic red and white marble, inspired by scented bathhouses (hammams) they had experienced on frequent travels to Turkey and the Balkans.

Jon Mitchell, of Fox Marble, said of the project: “The challenge was how to fit the homeowners’ vision into a 3.7 x 3m modern box without it looking over ornate. The result was, in design terms, quite a lot simpler than a typical hammam, but the stone and the colour, for us, captured the spirit of the inspiration.”

The owners wanted to use stone that might have been available to the region’s original hammam builders, to give the project a real sense of coherence. 

Top-to-toe marble in such a relatively small space could have looked excessive but the clever choice of colour- a rich tone to highlight part of the floor and around the door frames, with a more subdued grey and white on the walls and the remainder of the floor- created a striking but not overwhelming aesthetic.

The room required 15 sqm of Breccia Paradisea (marble) and 75 sqm of Alexandrian White.  It was purchased as industry standard 2cm thick stone slab with a polished finish.  It was essential to commission a craftsman exceptionally skilled in cutting, fitting and installing marble.  The homeowners worked with Bekim Derguti, of Natural Stones Production, who completed the project with his team in just three weeks.

The homeowners said: “We commissioned the extension with solid concrete foundations so the weight of stone was never going to be a problem.  The stone from Fox Marble worked well with the planned underfloor heating. Just as it did for the Ottomans, it feels right for our bathroom. It is clean, luxurious and, yet, functional.”

Fox Marble now has a total of three marble quarries in full production, with licences acquired for many more.  Alongside its quarries, Fox Marble also owns a 6000 sqm factory just outside Kosovo’s capital city, Pristina. Here, block marble is processed into cut and polished slabs, and cut to size pieces. Designers, specifiers and developers are encouraged to meet the company’s Italian quarry masters to choose their stone and discuss processing.  

www.foxmarble.net

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