'We look for inspiration everywhere'

Leading quartz surfaces brand Caesarstone has launched four sultry shades in response to a growing demand for darker kitchens and bathrooms. Dark slate and stone, along with oxidised metal and black lacquered wood, are among the remarkable materials being combined in dramatic interiors and hospitality spaces, inspiring Caesarstone to introduce this new series as an antidote to lighter surfaces and colour palettes.

The collection – several years in the making – takes its lead from the desert and the great outdoors, where Caesarstone’s in-house design team ventured to help shape the look and feel of the new products. Here, global head of design Mor Krisher shares some of the inspirations and innovations that go into designing for a world-leading brand:

We look for inspiration everywhere and in order to design a series of products that truly captured the trend for dark interiors and kitchens, we turned our attention to the outside world, to the desert landscapes where natural stones are scorched by day and frozen by night, weathered by this endless cycle to produce the most wonderful patinas and textures.

We studied a huge variety of black and dark stones and they all had their own characters, some very simple and minimalist and some which were full of detail and vibrancy. They all evoked different feelings within the design team; some stones felt naturally warm and comforting, while others had patterns and texture that felt epic in scale, reminiscent of the vast and rugged landscape from which they came.

We knew that it was essential to define these details in the new collection, to understand the different characters to that we could bring these elemental aspects of nature into people’s homes.

Just like the night, the Piatto Black redefines the interiors. Everything gets a new dimensionality, an infinity of black. The Empira Black is a creative interpretation of dark marble. It’s a design beyond time and trend. With all the mystery of dark stone, Empira Black has a dark base composed of rich, deep black, beautified by fine, white, natural veins. The Black Tempal design has a complex composition of mineral-like layers. It captures the qualities of natural stones like travertine and slate. Warm whites expand across the slab, in contrast to its black base.

We were inspired by the night sky, and the ocean tides at night time.

Oxidian has an industrial appeal of patinas and textures. There’s a desire to capture the mysterious essence of alchemy, which is obtained here with metallic looks and finishes. We sought out metals in their natural state as they are extracted from the earth. The experience and know-how of the design team enable us to portray alloys and metals within a quartz surface.

Dark colours can be dramatic, bold and mysterious or warm and comforting. Our senses are heightened in the dark, and with darkness comes a world of calm and comfort, as we return to our homes at night. Dark tones are an entirely rich world of inspiration.

There is an organic quality to Caesarstone products, and this is just as important with dark colours as it is with our marble and granite styled surfaces. This is what we want in our homes - a visual and tactile connection to the outside world.