
Featured articleTrade & geography3 min read
The Mediterranean Has More Than One Shore
From ancient Ugarit to new cranes at Latakia, why Syria's Mediterranean position matters for its natural stone, and what buyers still need to see.
Articles & perspectives
Materials, craft and international trade — articles informed by generations of practical experience, from natural stone to the industries it serves.

Featured articleTrade & geography3 min read
From ancient Ugarit to new cranes at Latakia, why Syria's Mediterranean position matters for its natural stone, and what buyers still need to see.
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Selection & specification3 min read
A flawless sample can still mislead: why the stone an architect approves and the stone that arrives can differ, and how a supplier closes that gap.

Stone character3 min read
An architect may determine the proportions of a wall down to the millimetre.

Perspectives3 min read
An architect remembers a stone encountered years earlier in a Mediterranean courtyard. Its colour was difficult to describe.

Stone character3 min read
In the Hauran, stone did not stop at the walls.

Stone character3 min read
White limestone is often specified as though it were a single material. Lay a few samples beside a window, however, and the simplicity begins to disappear.

Selection & specification2 min read
Why importers should know who quarries and processes their stone: block choice, processing, packing and freight decide whether a sample becomes a viable order.

Stone character3 min read
From across a room, fossil-rich limestone can appear calm and even in tone. Move closer and the surface begins to change.

Stone character1 min read
How Damascus paired Hauran basalt with pale Syrian limestone in ablaq bands, as at Qasr al-Azm, and how that contrast still works in architecture today.

Stone science1 min read
One travertine block can reveal two completely different architectural expressions. The difference starts with the direction of the cut.

Stone character3 min read
Turkish limestone is familiar to international buyers.

Trade & geography3 min read
The natural-stone market is shaped by a familiar group of source countries.