Tangibly organic, gorgeously veined, rock-hard yet soft to the touch: For durability and jaw-dropping beauty, nothing compares to natural stone. In these tempestuous times, its sense of permanence provides an anchor for not just bathrooms and kitchens, but anyplace in the home. Understanding the material’s primal appeal, Ann Sacks continues to expand its stone offerings. As an adjunct to its slab galleries, where designers can peruse warehouses stocked with massive cuts of marble in every conceivable coloration, the Portland, Oregon–based brand now presents a curated selection of furnishings—including decadent bathtubs—all made from solid marble, no two exactly alike.
“It’s such a beautiful way to infuse nature into your space, and it pairs so well with wood and ceramic,” says DeeDee Gundberg, chief designer for the company. When conceptualizing the five latest designs, the key was not to mess with perfection. In some instances, strategic pleats or fluting enhance veining on the face of the stone. In others, large swaths are merely shaped and honed.
The launch’s two new table families prove the allure of both approaches. Thurman, a linear, modernist option in cocktail, coffee and console dimensions, features geometric angles, knife-edge detailing and otherwise unadulterated surfaces. The sculptural purity of the design puts the natural variance of the stone at the forefront, whether in the soothing neutral of Athens Silver Cream—one of three in-stock marbles—or the invigorating green of Nubo Verde, available by special order. For a more ornamental accent, Genevieve flaunts a full circle of precision-tailored pleats around an undulating perimeter, framing its flat, round top. Produced in cocktail, coffee and pedestal table proportions, it’s particularly stunning in Rosso Levanto, a rich burgundy red with dramatic white veining. (Cool white Amelie offers a more chaste alternative for the slightly less hot-blooded.) No matter the palette, the substantial heft of the Genevieve series is guaranteed to make an impression—the cocktail table is carved from a single chunk of stone hollowed out at the center.
“We wanted something clean and more traditionally masculine, hence Thurman’s plains, along with something decorative and feminine, as embodied by Genevieve’s pleating,” says Gundberg about the binary table styles, which can serve as singular pieces or an ensemble. “People today don’t necessarily use furniture in matching sets—all three sizes of either style in the same room,” she continues. For a customized look, designers and their clients now aim for a more personalized assortment. “A Genevieve coffee table can coexist quite comfortably alongside a Thurman console,” she says. The same stone across different designs helps unify the scheme, while varying marbles makes a more eclectic mark.
For all of the new styles, Ann Sacks offers a choice of popular classics like Carrara and Nero Marquina and more adventuresome, atypical palettes like Lilac. “Each has its place,” explains Gundberg. “The benefit of color in stone is that it never feels oversaturated or manufactured. It’s never a solid pink or green; there’s always so much nuance and movement, and that makes it easy to design with.” In the small-scale Ander vanity, which boasts a dimensional vertical pleat across its apron front, a more uniformly colored stone like Carrara keeps the focus on the form, while the carving further heightens the flow of facial veining in the higher-contrast Vecchia. Rendered in the dreamy peaches and grays of Rosa Lagoa or fluid blues and greens of Verde Serpa, this effect is almost prismatic. “You never quite know how an idea will translate, but when we saw the first samples for Ander, we were like, ‘Oh, this is so good,’” Gundberg recalls.
Presenting a completely different take on an equally petite sink, Evelyn is all soft edges and smooth surfaces, with nary a knife pleat in sight. “The style is an homage to my grandmother: The rounded corners remind me of the curl of her hair,” says Gundberg. She regards both the moniker and its eponymous design to have “a bit of a retro vibe” with broad applications: “Evelyn could look original to a 1920s house, and it also belongs in the contemporary homes being built today.” Cut from a single block of stone, the wall-mounted piece is seamless, from its rotund front to its backsplash. Both Ander and Evelyn are supported by a hand-welded stainless steel base finished in brushed nickel or gold that complements fixtures by sister brand Kallista.
“At Ann Sacks, we love to give our designers the variety and flexibility to make something their own, and a powder room is such a specific space that you could really experiment with either vanity,” says Gundberg. She imagines a maximalist environment with printed wallpaper, gilded sconces and patterned floor tile—“lots of stuff going on.” To double down on the magnificence of the stone, another potential aesthetic is tonal: “At KBIS, we showed Evelyn in Rosa Lagoa with Rosa Lagoa slabs behind it, and Ander in Vecchia against a Vecchia wall. The result was breathtaking: quiet, enveloping, yet so impactful.”
Speaking of impact, now that the powder room has been perfected and coffee tables put in place, it’s time for an indulgent soak in the primary bathroom. Don’t let the namesake of the fifth and final piece in the product launch dissuade you: Ophelia is all about happy endings. Hand-carved from a solitary block of marble, the showstopping ergonomic tub is ringed by pillowy, sensuous curves and rimmed by a round, exaggerated lip that’s just waiting to cradle your neck. Gently tapered and generously deep, “it invites you in,” says Gundberg. “It’s a design moment, but still so livable.” In Nero Marquina, Ophelia belongs in a penthouse with glittering city views. Situated at a beachside escape, the aqueous hues of Verde Serpa could seduce you into believing you’re afloat at sea.
Striking an expert balance between carefully considered pleating, fluting and edges versus simply letting the stone’s natural beauty shine on its own, Ann Sacks continues to evolve its repertoire of marble furnishings. Ravishing bathrooms and kitchens are a given, but with each new design and colorway, the brand’s marble creations make themselves at home in bedrooms, living rooms and beyond. “That’s what I love about these pieces,” says Gundberg. “They belong.”
This story is a paid promotion and was created in partnership with Ann Sacks.
Homepage image: Streamlined and sophisticated, with geometric angles and waterfall edges, the Thurman series of tables—including this console in Athens Silver Cream—proves that marble furnishings belong in every room of the home | Courtesy of Ann Sacks
