Journal — Material — — 6 min
Travertine, and why it should be allowed to age
On choosing stone for the way it weathers, and resisting the urge to seal it.
Travertine is porous, soft and changeable. It stains, it wears at the threshold, it fills with sand on a terrace by the sea. For many developers these are reasons to avoid it, or to seal it until it behaves like porcelain.
We specify it honed and unsealed wherever we can. After a few years the most-used paths lighten and polish under bare feet, and the edges of a pool take on the colour of the water.
This is not neglect. Each stone is selected at the quarry for density, and every residence is handed over with a short guide to living with it.