Posts written by Gareth Davies Stone

  1. Chelsea Flower Show – Tom Hoblyn Italian Garden Project
    May 6th, 2012 in Case Studies, Factory Visits, Stone Finishes

    Towards the end of last year we were approached by Keith Horn Architecture and Tom Hoblyn the well respected garden designer to source the travertine required for their garden, sponsored by Arthritis Research UK, at the Chelsea Flower Show. The garden design was inspired by the gardens at Villa Lante and Villa d’Este near Tivoli [...]

  2. Bank Of New York – Verona Cream Tiles And Virginia Mist Vanity Tops
    April 23rd, 2012 in Case Studies, Factory Visits

    Last week I took a trip to Verona with Canary Wharf Contractors and Commercial Stone Limited to view the production for six levels of Canary Wharf Tower taken by the Bank of New York. We were inspecting Verona Cream honed tiles and Virginia Mist polished vanity tops for the toilet pods. The Verona Cream limestone [...]

  3. CCP Reception Portman Square
    January 27th, 2012 in Case Studies, Stone Finishes

    This week I received images of the CCP reception we completed at the end of 2011. It was a great project to be involved in this project where the Canadian client wanted to use a Canadian stone. The most striking and well known Eramosa was the obvious choice.

  4. Bank of China – San Remo Limestone
    January 18th, 2012 in Case Studies, Factory Visits

      I returned to Venice to inspect the finished production for Bank of China last week. The blocks had yielded some cracking material and once dry looked as per our approved mock up seen in November with TP Bennett & Overbury.

  5. Coleman Street – Flint Limestone
    January 18th, 2012 in Case Studies, Factory Visits

      This week I visited a factory in Barcelona from which we buy Flint limestone. This order was for the project Coleman Street.

  6. Matching A Fired Earth Limestone
    December 30th, 2011 in Case Studies

    Recently we received an inquiry via our website requesting help to find a limestone being offered by the high street retailer Fired Earth to hopefully offer a saving.

  7. Pietra Serena Factory Visit
    December 27th, 2011 in Factory Visits

    This week we visited a Pietra Serena Factory near Firenzuola, Italy. It is a busy factory with many contracts but one particular regular client requires exceptional selection and colour control to ensure all tiles are the same!!

  8. Pietra Serena Quarry Visit
    December 8th, 2011 in Quarry Visit

    This week we visited the Pietra Serena Quarry near Firenzuola, Italy. We luckily witnessed a block being blasted to move it away from quarry face, see video below. Also video of us entering the quarry to set the scene. Great quarry with very definitive strata and bedding plains. Explosion moving a reasonabley sized block away from the [...]

  9. Shell Gris Abrasion Test
    November 26th, 2011 in Test Results

    Here are the formal results for the Shell Gris. A durable stone and good for 500,000,000 visitor foot traffickings during its design life. Not bad at all. shellgrisabrasion44795g2.rep

  10. Shell Gris Abrasion Testing Big Commercial Stone Project
    November 25th, 2011 in Case Studies, Test Results

    This week I had to confirm the suitability of our Shell Gris for a very large commercial project I am currently working on. The building in The City would be the workplace for over 6000 people and with the design life of 50 years.  This requirement would mean the stone needs to withstand 150,000,000 visitors during its life (6000 x 2 [...]