What is natural stone?

The term natural stone refers to organic rock quarried from the earth for use as building material. It is a solid composition made up of one or more minerals formed thousands of years ago.

Shaped by mineral gases that condensed and cooled into solid material over time, different types of rocks are formed by different mineral compositions, this is why we have different types of natural stone with different properties and why they come from certain areas of the world we know today.

So, what is natural stone tile? This is when the quarried stone goes through several manufacturing processes including sizing and shaping to become slabs of material and is then cut into individual tiles.

As natural stone is a product of nature, no two tiles are the same, this is referred to as variation. It is why one piece of marble can be all white and another heavily veined with black accents. Variations can occur in the stone’s colour, shading, veining, markings, texture, and finish. This makes natural stone unique and gives it its charm.

There are many types of natural stone, but the main ones used for applications like tiles are these, click each one to find out more.

You can shop all our natural stone ranges online and in selected stores across the UK.