Everything comes out of one quarryabove the village. The same seam andthe same grain, so a floor laid intwo batches still looks like one floor.

We buy the block whole and saw ithere. What the block gives is whatyou get, and we say no when itwill not give it.

Sawn wet on a bridge saw that hasrun since 1986. Slow, loud, andsquare to a tenth of a millimetre.

Every slab is numbered on the backin the order it came off the block.Laid in that order, the veins carryon across the room.

Four finishes and no more: sawn,honed, brushed, polished. Each onechanges how the stone takes water,which matters more than how it looks.

Honed is what most people wantwithout knowing the name. Matt,grey when wet, and it does nothold a heel mark.

Laid on a full bed of mortar, neveron dabs. A slab on five dots soundshollow the first time somebodydrops a pan on it.

Then it is left alone for a week.No traffic, nothing laid over it,and the joints stay open untilthe last day.