Color Profile

The Right Color / It All Starts Here

Color is incredibly important. In natural stone, it can be difficult to accurately specify.

We describe a stone’s color profile by:

  1. Dominant color theme
  2. Secondary color theme
  3. Color pattern
  4. Feeling
  5. Inclusions
  6. Surface Finish

Combining these factors produces a color profile.

Color Theme

Dominant color refers to colors that make up approximately 30 percent or more of a natural stone’s surface.

Secondary color refers to colors that make up less than approximately 30 percent of a natural stone’s surface. For example, we may describe a certain granite as having beige dominant colors with blue and purple secondary colors.

Unlike paint, perceived color in natural stone is highly fluid, depending on surface finish, moisture, and sun angle. Therefore, we reference color themes rather than specific color names or numbers.

Browns natural stone color theme
Browns
Reds natural stone color theme
Reds
Oranges natural stone color theme
Orange/Rust
Tans Color Theme
Tans
Pinks natural stone color theme
Pinks
Yellows natural stone color theme
Yellow
Beiges-512
Beiges
Creams color theme
Creams
Whites natural stone color theme
Whites
Greys natural stone color theme
Grays
Greens natural stone color theme
Greens
Blues natural stone color theme
Blues
Purples natural stone color theme
Purples
Blacks natural stone color theme
Blacks

Color Pattern

Color pattern refers to the way in which colors are distributed over the surface of the stone. For example, we may refer to the granite as having a regular color pattern with some speckles and swirls. We’ve adopted many of our color pattern terms from other materials, such a wallpaper and carpet.

Solid natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Solid
Regular natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Regular
Linear natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Linear
Cloudy natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Cloudy
Swirls natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Swirls
Streaks natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Streaks
Veined natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Veined
Blotched
Blotched
Marbled natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Marbled
Random natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Random
Speckled-Fine natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Speckled-Fine
Speckled natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Speckled
Speckled-Coarse natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Speckled-Coarse

Feeling

Feeling refers to an overall warm or cool color composition or exhibits a feeling of movement.

Linear natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Linear Movement
Streaks natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Streaked Movement
Swirls natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Swirled Movement
Veined natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Veined Movement

Inclusions

Inclusions refer to the presence of additional minerals, such as mica, that can change the perceived color of natural stone. Inclusions can create dramatic movement when they are linear, streaked, swirled or veined.

Inclusions natural stone color pattern in grayscale
Speckled Mineral Inclusions

Surface Finish

Surface finish processes can change the perceived color of certain stone. Keep this in mind when creating a stone curation specification.

Mountain Hard Limestone Beige / One Stone. Eight different finishes.

Mountain Hard Limestone Beige /
One Stone. Eight different finishes.

Mountain hard limestone beige bush hammered texture swatch

Bush Hammered

Mountain hard limestone beige split face texture swatch

Split-Face

Mountain hard limestone beige graffiato texture swatch

Adze

Mountain hard limestone beige antiqued texture swatch

Antiqued

Mountain hard limestone beige flamed texture swatch

Flamed

Mountain hard limestone beige flamed and tumbled texture swatch

Flamed & Tumbled

Mountain hard limestone beige sandblasted texture swatch

Sandblasted

Mountain hard limestone beige sandblasted and brushed texture swatch

Sandblasted & Brushed

Even though the individual elements of a color profile are closely related, dominant and secondary color, color pattern and inclusions can be specified independently in a stone curation specification to achieve specific design goals.

A growing trend in natural stone design is to use different products, with different color profiles, surfaces, and textures, in a single design pattern. It’s important to note that certain surface finish processes can change the color profile of certain stone.