My affair with terrazzo began in a tile store in Paris last November. In search of flooring that had the elegance of marble but a little less cold (and generally, less expensive), a large, creamy slab of terrazzo with bright chips in sage, gold, charcoal, and terracotta caught my eye. So elementary-school chic! Color me a millennial, but I was instantly hooked.
From the Italian word for “terrace,” terrazzo is a composite material made with irregular-shaped pieces of marble, quartz, granite, or glass, all combined together with a neutral binder. A sustainable option from the outset, it was created by 16th-century Venetian artisans to repurpose marble pieces leftover from the production of marble slabs.
