SO OVER THE RAINBOW

Stone color trends seem to ebb and flow at a monthly clip, but mixing black and white is forever.

- Tim McKeough

Colorful marble has been having a moment. Designers and homeowners have rediscovered rosy Rojo Alicante, emerald-hued Empress Green, and purple-tinged Calacatta Viola. But make no mistake: Black-and-white stone hasn't gone anywhere.

Treasured since ancient times when they were quarried for everything from the Roman Forum to the mosaic floors in Pompeii, stones in basic black and basic white still hold immense, enduring appeal.

"Today, we're seeing these wild, hyper-veined colors used for big, splashy moments, but black and white is endlessly captivating, and it can be big and bold too," says Lyndsey Belle Tyler, the creative director of ABC Stone in New York City.

"Even in ancient Greece, we saw bold geometric patterns created from black-and-white stone tiles." It simply doesn't get any more high contrast than black-and-white stone used together. "Literally, white is the absence of all color, and black is the presence of all color," Tyler says. "So together you get something powerful."

That's a fact that has been harnessed throughout time, from the first architects of antiquity to contemporary designers who continue to find inventive new expressions for the material.