Colour guide
Buyers use these three names loosely, and factories use them differently again. On our range the distinction is not marketing: it is about how wide the vein is, how much white is left around it, and how much planning the cut needs.
Calacatta is the open one: wide, high-contrast veining with generous clean white or pale ground between the lines. Statuario is crisper and more linear, usually on a cooler white, with veins that run rather than wander. Carrara is the quiet end — fine, soft veining at low contrast, sometimes so faint the slab reads almost plain from across the room.
None of the three is a quarry name on an engineered slab. They are descriptions of a figure that is pressed into the surface, which means the pattern repeats from sheet to sheet instead of varying unpredictably. That is the single biggest practical difference from natural marble, and it changes how you specify a long run.
The bold end of Calacatta includes Calacatta Aurora, with broad grey sweeps across a clean white, and Calacatta Delta, where wide high-contrast veins split the slab. Calacatta Plume and Calacatta Arc sit at the calmer end, leaving plenty of ground between the lines. Statuario is a small group here: Statuario Inchiostro, whose heavy dark veins on bright white give the highest contrast in the range, and Statuario Vortice, with wide irregular dark veins on a cool white.
Carrara is the largest family. Carrara Alba runs widely spaced grey lines straight across a white ground; Carrara Lino keeps its fine veins almost the tone of the ground; Carrara Fiocco, Carrara Latte and Carrara Sorgente cover the range from sparse threads to dense pale filaments. If a client says they want marble without the drama, one of these is usually the answer.
A wide, high-contrast vein is legible from the doorway. That is exactly what some clients are buying — and exactly why the rest of the scheme has to be quieter than the slab. Busy joinery, a strong floor pattern and a patterned splashback will all compete with a Calacatta island. A quiet Carrara behaves in the opposite way: it steps back and lets the joinery and the light do the work.
Lightness matters as much as contrast. A near-white ground keeps a room bright but makes joint lines visible, so seam placement and a mitred edge matter more on a pale marble look than on a dark one. On a large surface, a low-contrast Carrara is much more forgiving of the inevitable seam than a bold Calacatta.
Directional veining wants a layout. For a Calacatta or Statuario island, agree the vein direction and whether the sheets are to be book-matched before the cutting list is written; a book-matched island is possible on pressed quartz, but it has to be specified at order stage, not discovered in the workshop. Wide irregular veins also reward choosing the exact slab rather than ordering by code alone.
Carrara is easier. The low-contrast threads do not demand a match at the seam, and small cuts still read as intentional. The main risk on the pale ones is the opposite: because there is so little movement, any variation in shade between batches shows up clearly on a long run. Order enough of one colour to finish the job, and approve the shade on a physical sample.
Quote the colour code, not just the family name. 'Calacatta' means different things at different factories, and on our own range it covers everything from a single light vein to the boldest sheet we press. A code such as CN7011 or CN8010 fixes the exact figure, the measured tone and the slab photograph.
Then ask for a physical sample and, if the job is large, a full-size slab photograph from the current batch. Shade varies between batches and between screens; the slab photograph is the reference for pattern and shade, while the room scenes on our colour pages are clearly marked visualisations that show scale rather than an installation.
The colours page lets you filter the full range by family and by style, so you can see the three groups side by side. Each colour page carries its own slab photograph, measured tone and a short fabrication note written for that specific sheet. If you are torn between two, tell us the codes and we will put both on the same sample board.
Enquiry
Send the colour codes, the square metres, the thickness and the destination port. We reply with a price, a packing plan and a lead time.
