What Is Liquid Marble?

Interior Design Alliance

Is it thought that the above picture is a piece of water feature? Wrong, this is a piece of marble.

There are a variety of stone processing techniques. With the development of science and technology, the processing of the craft products. It has broken through our inherent imagination.

Marble as one of the hardest materials. It is widely popular in the building materials market, and you may not imagine that one day. The hard marble can become so soft and romantic. For example, the following picture.

Yes, you read it right. This is the effect of marble made of liquid surface. Such a unique marble, really brighten people’s eyes. This is liquid marble. Today we understand what is liquid marble from the following four aspects.

01.What is liquid marble

02.The performance characteristics of liquid marble

03.The construction and installation of liquid marble

04.Various expressions of liquid marble 

01.

What is liquid marble 

Liquid marble is the hard natural stone through linear sawing, CNC carving, hand polishing, so as to form a visual liquefaction state.

The product specification is customized according to the site size. Its thickness can be 20/30/50mm, and the weight of 20mm is 55kg/㎡.

Surface treatment: polished/matte

Common applications: art decoration, home products, wall and floor, etc.

02.

Performance characteristics of liquid marble

– The combination of linear sawing and CNC carving with each other can create 3D effect stone.

– Exquisite and realistic patterns with different depths and inclinations can be carved on the stone surface.

– Together with the artificial fine polishing, it will show the natural form of texture.

– In the reflection of light and shadow highlight the exquisite proportions, creating an artistic atmosphere.

In France, a romantic artist, Mathieu Lehanneur, who loves the blue ocean, has visited 50 seas in the world, large and small. The hidden charm of these subtle differences in color gave him inspiration for his work.

The designer uses marble to express the blue sea in his mind. From installation art products to large scale architectural designs, he uses the unique craft of marble to create extraordinary artworks.

The most representative of his works is the “Liquid Marble” series, in which Mathieu attempts to freeze a moment of dynamic liquid with the hard material. The liquid, shine and flow of seawater are vividly expressed, creating an amazing visual effect!

For example, the following art installation is called “Loire River”. The courtyard of the old castle is paved with fine gravel and a pool of blue water appears. The appearance of the intertwined water and light under the sunlight makes you believe that it is made of green monolithic marble from Guatemala.

What should have been a rushing river was framed as a fragment. A timeless fragment of the petite Loire crossing the surface of the garden and penetrating deep into the soil to reveal the meaning of the river’s source of life. It makes you stop in your tracks.

He uses complex 3D softwares to simulate the continuous waves of the sea being blown by the wind, then uses mechanical sculpting of the contours, then hand polishing to bring the surface to a sparkling and realistic visual impression. This allows the viewer to navigate between the rational design framework and the sensual visual effect.

Such romantic installations have also found their way into the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The installation is approximately 4 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. The walls and floors of the spacious gallery display space are light in color, contrasting with the dark black fossil-like installation.

The installation presents a surreal image of the ocean, vividly imitating the form of rippling water created by a gentle breeze.

The base of the installation is only 30 cm high. Whether gazing down from above or up close, the installation is striking and thought-provoking.

03.

Construction and installation of liquid marble

a. Construction points

▼Linear sawing to form the prototype

▼CNC carving to carve out the peaks and valleys

▼Hand polishing for final perfection

▼The key to construction: natural waves and straight peaks

b.Installation process

The same as the normal marble stone wall and floor installation construction method (wet paste or dry hanging. (According to the thickness of the decision, more than 30mm wall can be considered dry hanging)

Wet paste process: grass-roots leveling → wipe combined layer (cement mortar) → stone paving → detail treatment → finish.

Dry hanging process: wall placement → pre-row stone → play expansion bolts → installation of steel skeleton, adjustment → stone fixed → glue protection → complete

Construction Note: Installation after the product arrives at the site, using the dense paving method, can be caulked or not.

▼Construction site of art installation Loire River

▼Construction site of liquid marble furniture

04.

Various ways of expression of liquid marble 

This artistic effect of liquid marble combines the new-age 3D special effects software, machine carving and traditional hand polishing, blurring the demarcation between design and art.

In addition to art installations, the use of these liquid stones in product furniture and interior spaces can also highlight the beautiful and natural artistic atmosphere.

Designers through the marble itself pattern, plus the details of processing. Let this piece of marble, which was just a simple stone, turn into a shining sea.