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Putting stone scraps to fresh use, Studio Raw Material mines the rich traditions of India’s western plains

- KRISTEN DE LA VALLIÈRE

You see marble at luxury distributors where it looks polished and special, but here, in the dust, you realize it’s part of the earth,” reflects Dushyant Bansal, gazing out at a quarry in the rural landscape of Makrana, India. Throughout the northwestern state of Rajasthan, where he and Priyanka Sharma run their design firm Studio Raw Material, locals have long harvested stone—from the white variety that built the Taj Mahal to colorful specimens now commonly used for flooring. Pointing toward a stack of offcuts, Bansal continues: “Seeing it like this cracks open the mystery.”