No Stone Left Unturned

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

At its best, the production process not only facilitates design but also inspires it. Laura Gottwald & Associates experienced that firsthand during the odyssey that preceded the firm's commercial-flooring debut. "My inspiration was Mogul-style decorative mosaics, resplendent in palaces and forts all over India," Laura Gottwald says. But once she was introduced to New Ravenna Mosaics's creative director, Sara Baldwin, as well as the manufacturer's water-jet patterning system, Gottwald says she experienced "an explosion of ideas." She suddenly found herself thinking about Gio Ponti's furniture, Piero Fornasetti's faces, Juan O'Gorman's architecture—all of which could be relayed via CAD renderings to direct a high-pressure stream of water.

She ultimately settled on eight patterns: pop art Concentric, geometric Oblong, bubbly Spheres, sleek Ellipse, minimalist Groove, multicolored Stripes, Wiener Werkstätte—influenced Interlock, and Bauhaus-inspired Rectangle. All tiles are 5¾ by 11½ inches and 3/8 inch thick, produced in nearly any variety of stone, from Alba Chiara marble to Jerusalem Gold limestone. Stone Source, 212-979-6400; stonesource.com. circle 417