Choosing between alabaster, travertine, and marble starts with one question: what is this piece doing in the room? Light, form, line, or weight. Each stone leans toward a different answer.
This guide is the practical version. Pick the stone before you pick the piece, and the choice gets simpler.
When alabaster makes sense
Alabaster is translucent. Light passes through it. That is the defining property, and it changes the way the stone reads in a room.
Choose alabaster when the piece is doing something with light. Vessels that hold a candle. Vases that catch afternoon sun. Forms placed where backlight reveals them. The Vesper and the Reveal in Drop 01 are both alabaster, both designed for light to be part of the object.
Do not choose alabaster for heavy daily use. It is the softest of the three stones. It does not love water, acid, or rough handling. It belongs in a still part of a room, not a kitchen island that gets wiped down twice a day.
When travertine makes sense
Travertine is the workhorse. Open-pored, durable, sturdy enough to handle daily life. It reads as honest because the pores are visible. You see the stone for what it is.
Choose travertine when the piece is functional, sculptural, or both. Serving plates. Bookends. Objects you pick up. The Cornice, Joint, Lintel, Newel, and Oculus are all travertine for that reason.
Travertine comes in tones. Beige is the most common, neutral and warm. Yellow is rarer, more saturated, almost gold in evening light. Silver-grey is the most subdued, sitting quietly with cool palettes. We use all three in Drop 01.
The one thing to know: open pores can hold liquid. Wipe spills promptly. Avoid acidic cleaners. An annual stone-safe sealer keeps the pores closed if you want low maintenance.
When marble makes sense
Marble has tighter grain and dramatic veining. It reads as formal. Heavy. Demanding of the surface it sits on.
Choose marble when you want one heroic piece in a room. A single bowl on a kitchen island. A bookend on a mantel. A piece that holds attention without competing with everything around it. We made one marble piece in Drop 01, the Waitākere bowl, for that reason.
Marble etches with acid. Wine, citrus, vinegar will mark the surface if left on it. That is not damage, that is how marble lives. If you treat it with awareness, it ages beautifully. If you cannot be bothered with coasters, choose travertine instead.
Mixing three stones in one room
A room can hold all three. A single surface usually holds one.
The rule is not strict, but it works: marble on a kitchen island, travertine on a sideboard, alabaster on a mantel. Each surface earns its dominant stone. The eye reads each surface as composed.
Mixing on one surface can work, but it asks more from the eye. If you do it, keep scale and palette in check. A marble bowl and a small alabaster vessel can sit together if the alabaster is much smaller. A marble bowl and a travertine plate compete unless one is clearly the lead piece.
When in doubt, choose one stone per surface. The room will read calmer.
The shortcut
If you want one stone to start with: travertine. It is the most forgiving, the most versatile, and it works in the widest range of rooms. The Cornice plate is the easiest entry into Lomāe. Build from there.
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Lomāe