— notebook · works · process
an onyx fireplace.
from slab to site.
A commission from start to finish: a fireplace clad in Golden Cloud onyx and backlit. The slab was chosen, cut and dry-fitted in the workshop, transported and installed on site with the light behind it. This is the process you don’t see in the final photo.
words: Ray Ródenas, architect · october 2026
01 · the slab.
It all starts with choosing the slab. Onyx is translucent: with light behind it, it changes completely, so you need to see it both ways before deciding. What looks like a warm ground of whites and ochres in daylight becomes an intense drawing of golden veins when backlit.
02 · the workshop.
In the workshop the pieces are cut and laid out so that the veining runs continuously across every face of the fireplace. Then the whole piece is assembled to check that everything fits before it leaves for site.
03 · transport.
Onyx is more delicate than marble. It travels upright on an A-frame, well secured, so it reaches the site exactly as it left the workshop.
04 · installation.
On site, the pieces are fixed leaving space behind them for the LED lighting, and the junctions with the firebox and the corners are resolved.
05 · finished.
Unlit, it is a stone piece with a warm pattern of ochres and whites. Lit, the light passes through the onyx and the veining becomes the centrepiece of the living room.
Work like this does not come out of a catalogue: you have to choose the slab, think through the layout and coordinate workshop, transport and site. That is exactly what we do.
nothing else.
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bala material studio · alicante