The Marble Fair in Verona (Marmomac 2021), which we attended as exhibitors after a long absence, offered the perfect opportunity to present two materials that have only recently arrived in our warehouse: Diorite Green and Donatello.
Diorite Green is a dark green natural stone from Iran, it has differently coloured veins and is speckled with brown-reddish spots like a pomegranate.
The brown-reddish spots and the unique dark green shade have given this material names such as Verde Melograno, Antique Green, Black Musk.
This natural stone is also characterized by a more or less visible white stippling which, in combination with the darker veins, creates movement without clearly separating the various coloured areas; all in all, its homogeneity reminds us of a cloud.
Let’s get some clarity …
Diorite Green, as we know it today, is, in geological terms, not exactly a diorite but a garnet bearing amphibolite.
Actually, amphiboles and garnets provide the green background colour and the reddish spots.
From years of geological studies, we’ve learnt about the formation of this rock. The originally igneous rock has been completely transformed by metamorphism over many years.
Diorite Green is one of the natural stones analysed in the project “Inside Stone”. This project was supported by Prof. Bernardo Cesare, professor of Petrology at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Padua.
A thin section of 3 microns (equivalent to a third of one millimetre) was taken from the slab and photographed through a polarized light microscope, capable of “switching on” colours.
The result was a burst of shapes and colours: the complex mineralogical composition is capable to imitate abstract artwork.
Diorite Green in interior and exterior design
The currently commercialised diorite evokes the antique diorite that the ancient Egyptians delicately worked to produce vases, sceptres, and inlays of the highest quality.
The granite Diorite Green is one of those materials that give a touch of naturalness and nobility to both interior and exterior furnishings, thanks to their unique colour and robustness.
In interior design, this granite is mainly used for high-quality countertops in the kitchen, as its heat and scratch resistance matches perfectly with its exclusive aesthetics. In luxury bathrooms, it is often applied as a vanity top and as shower or bathtub cladding, combining practicality and beauty.
Outdoors, Diorite Green is the ideal material for flooring, stairs, facades, and wall cladding.
Due to its resistance to atmospheric agents, this granite is hard-wearing, and its aesthetics remain unchanged even over the years.
Diorite Green is also suitable for landscaping, e.g. as borders on flower beds or as an accent in stone gardens, where its colour contrasts with the green of the vegetation.
Diorite is often proposed with a raw or polished surface to better mark the veins.
This versatile material looks best when polished or satined, but a honed surface has great appeal, too.
The versatility of Diorite Green allows designers to play with textures and surfaces, as the material can be adapted to different stylistic and functional needs, while creating a unique and personalized setting that reflects the customer's vision and taste.
Check Diorite Green in the material catalogue.