The Next Big Thing: Terrazzo

The story so far

Often used as flooring, terrazzo is a budget-friendly alternative to marble and can be found adorning many a train station and shopping-centre floor. It's created using offcuts of natural elements, such as marble, stone or glass, which are set into concrete that is then sanded

and polished to create its shiny, fragmented effect. Previously a feature of the Eighties' recently revived Memphis Movement, terrazzo's flecked finish is now used by designers to fall in with the current trend for coloured stone.

Go for a striking look with a wall-to-wall mural of this colourful composite

Holy Granite wallpaper, from £31 per sq m, Nothing Can Go Wrng range, Photowall

Where we've seen it

By using a blend of recycled materials, the terrazzo finish is being mimicked to create colourful and highly durable surfaces - Smile Plastics reuses items such as yoghurt pots to create speckled surfaces, which can be seen in kitchens, bathrooms, furniture and even shelving. Kangan Arora's Radium collection has been inspired by vinyl offcuts used to decorate trucks in India, resulting in a fragmented layer design used on home textiles.

From junk to chic - made from re-usable items to create terrazzo effect surfaces

Charcoal sheet, Smile Plastics

Falling fragments - Make your sofa stand out with this talking-point design

Radium Forest cushion, £69, Kangan Arora

Pencil it in - Jazz up a dull desk area with pattern-popping pencils

Terrazzo pencil, £2, Hay range, The Goodhood Store

Noted design - Stimulate creativity with colourful stationery

Le Terrazzo notebook, £9.50, Haykin

Bespoke surfaces -stunning marble mix made by design

Marmoreal by Max Lamb for Dzek, made for a London apartment

Set in stone - Bring in the trend with a bold basin

Confetti Terrazzo washbasin 40, £149, Pegase range, Tikamoon

Latest releases

The Swedish design duo that makes up Fish and Pink were inspired to create their range of tables while waiting for a train - they wanted to transpose terrazzo from the station's floor onto furniture designs and revisit the traditional terrazzo-making process. See newcomer Olivia Aspinall's take, which features bold chip and prime-matter surfaces, tables and wallpaper. Sevak Zargarian's Unearthed designs consist of hand-made, coloured porcelain chips, which are then added to more clay, moulded, sanded and polished to reveal a random pattern.

Terrazzo top - Choose from a range of colourful bases

Confetti coffee table with grey base, £721, Fish and Pink range, Crowdy House

Made by hand - the fragments are pieces of porcelain -

Unearthed Interiors series, Sevak Zargarian

Serve up in style -create a simple centerpiece

Terrazzo serving trays, Serax

Clever combo - Made of Jemonite and then pigmented with
coal. The material is then cast and sanded back to reveal the pattern.

Prime Matter collection, Olivia Aspinall Studio

Fragmented light - a modern update on a traditional style

Terrazzo table lamp, £85, Oliver Bonas