Origin is not a marketing word

A terrazzo block is not cut from a seam underground. It is mixed and cast. So “where does your terrazzo come from” has two possible answers and a reader is usually given whichever of them sounds better.

The two facts

The first is where the aggregate came from: the marble, quartz or glass, and the region it was quarried in. The second is where the material was made: mixed, cast, ground and finished.

They are independent. A block using Turkish travertine aggregate can be cast and ground in Fujian, and when it is sold it is Turkish travertine.

Why the trade conflates them

Because the second fact is the one that describes the processing, and describing the processing is easier to sell. It is also the fact that travels badly: a buyer in another market cannot visit it, while a named aggregate source is checkable.

The result is that “made in” is routinely written in a way that describes the process and reads as the origin. Neither statement is false. They are answers to different questions.

What to ask, and what an answer looks like

Ask both separately: where the aggregate is quarried, and where the block was cast and ground. A supplier who gives one answer to both questions has told you they are the same, and on this material they are not.

The part that is measurable

JC/T 507-2022 table 1 sets out the panel sizes a precast product is expected to be supplied in, up to 3200 by 1800 by 60 mm. GB 50209-2010 clause 5.4.9 gives the cement-to-aggregate volume ratio as 1:1.5 to 1:2.5 and the aggregate at 6 to 16 mm.

Those are the figures a buyer can check a supplier against without visiting anything. They are worth more than an adjective on a photograph.

What we do not say here: we do not name a quarry and we do not claim a provenance we cannot document. We buy the block and we say where it was cut; what was in it is a question with an answer attached to a document, and that document is what a buyer should ask for.

Filed under Quarrying