Antiqued (Leathered) Natural Stone

One of the prominent features of a given design style is texture. Making use of texturing is one way to add character to a design. For the most part, many natural stone surfaces have a polished finish. Other relatively well known finishes are honed and flamed finishes. In this article though, we will consider the antique finish, also known as the leathered finish. We will explore some of the concepts and look at why leathered finishes are desirable.

How Texturing is Achieved

Maybe you have seen the granite finish that goes by a couple of names. One of those names is "leathered" and the other is "antiqued". If you have seen this finish, you may have wondered how to create leathered granite. Well, if you were to try to figure out how to produce that texture, you would quickly realize that the different minerals in the material make it a challenge to accomplish. However, Tenax has solved that problem for you by creating a tool that allows fabricators to use a series of brushes in the same order to achieve the desired look.

Why People Choose Leathered (Antiqued) Finishes

A natural question that might come up would seem to be, "Why is the antique look even necessary?" Well, there are a number of answers that one could give. First, a person may just prefer to have this type of finish on their granite surface. Sure, it is not for everyone, but design is largely subjective and each person has different preferences.

Another reason for being able to achieve a leathered or antiqued look on a granite surface is that some design styles actually go better with this type of finish. For example, a rustic style design in a kitchen would be a very good match for a leathered granite surface. There are others as well. But you get the idea.

A third reason people select leathered granite is because they want a unique option. When you think about it, this is really a key point. People that select natural stone for their countertop surfaces often times are looking for a surface that is no like others. They want the countertop to stand out and look different, they are looking for unique. And the unique look is usually very important to them. So, putting a different finish on a material that might otherwise appear to be similar (although with natural stone each slab is truly unique) to some people is a way to enhance the uniqueness of the kitchen and the overall design.

The granite antiquing process really puts a distinct look on the material to which it is applied. This means the stone takes on a much different appearance from how it would look if it were polished or honed.

Is the Antiqued Finish Dull?

The short answer to that question is, "It depends on if that is how you want it to look." The tooling used to create the antiqued, or leathered, look offers additional brushes to apply a "glossy" finish to the antiqued surface. This means that either a dull, matte look or a glossy, "caress" finish. It really is a question of which look you are trying to get.

Antiqued granite is not dull in another sense as well. The finish makes the material stand out and adds dimension to an otherwise smooth surface. So the combination of adding texture and a gloss is a two for one advantage.

As we have seen, antiquing natural granite is a technique that affords stone fabricators the ability to offer a diffrent look to what might otherwise be an ordinary looking granite slab. Having the ability create this, one-of-kind producing effect on a granite surface is a good arrow to have in the quiver. Being able to offer an antiqued surface and providing customers with more options is one thing that successful shops try to achieve.