Choosing stone for Casa Brava

There are seventeen stone suppliers within two hours of Paraty. We visited nine of them before we found the right stone for Casa Brava. The selection criteria were not complicated: we wanted something genuinely local, that looked correct when wet, and that would not become dangerously slippery.

The stone we chose is a dark grey schist from a small family operation near Cunha. It is cleft rather than sawn, which gives it a natural texture that reads differently at different times of day. Wet, it becomes almost black, creating a strong contrast with the pale concrete of the house walls. Dry, it lightens to a warm grey that reads well against the vegetation.

We specified a wire-brush finish for the pool surround and the terrace, which opens up the surface slightly and improves grip without destroying the character of the stone. The cost was roughly equivalent to the more commonly specified travertine from Portugal, and the carbon footprint was a fraction.