Pink, red and purple marble: types and how to choose
Pinks, reds and purples are the warmest colours in natural stone. They range from Mediterranean salmon pink to the burgundy and violet of Italian breccias. Chosen well, they give real character to a bathroom, a fireplace, a lobby or a bar.
Pinks
Rosa Valencia, Spain's pink marble
Rosa Valencia is a Spanish marble with a salmon-pink background and soft veins. It is widely used for floors and cladding and brings a distinctly Mediterranean warmth. We cover it alongside other classics in Spanish marble.
Soft and translucent pinks
Crystallo Pink is the pink-toned variety of Crystallo quartzite: translucent, with delicate veins and a very luminous look, elegant in bathrooms and backlit pieces. Pink Onyx has a soft pink background with white and reddish veins. Like all onyx, it is calcite, translucent and delicate (soft and sensitive to acids), and it is usually backed with mesh and resin. Maragogui Pink adds pink and lilac hues with soft veins.
Pinks with movement
Cosmopolitan combines pink, red and white in a very warm wavy pattern, with spectacular symmetry on book-matched slabs. Michelangelo has a pink and peach background with layered grey, green and golden veins.
Reds
Rojo Alicante, Spain's red marble
Rojo Alicante is a Spanish marble from the province of Alicante, with an intense red background and white veins. It was a classic for floors, stairs and cladding, and it is making a strong comeback in contemporary design.
Other intense reds
Rosso Lepanto is a marble with a burgundy background, light fragments and a network of white veins, very elegant. Vulkan Red is an intense red with fine white veins. Xango Red is an orange-red with darker veins and the odd bluish hint, for bars, walls and statement pieces. Moulan Rouge is a deep garnet red with green and white veins, and Orobico Red carries Orobico's banded pattern in reddish, pink and white tones.
Breccias
A breccia is a stone made of rock fragments, or clasts, bound together naturally. That is why every slab looks like a different mosaic.
- Breccia Pontificia: an Italian marble with a light background and large wine-red and grey veins and fragments. Book-matched, it draws a very strong V. Highly valued for bathrooms, fireplaces and signature pieces.
- Breccia Rosso: rounded fragments in coral red, pink and cream bound by light veins. Warm in bathrooms, floors and walls.
- Arcobaleno: a breccia of rounded fragments in pink, grey, green and white, like a rainbow.
Purples
Calacatta Viola is an Italian marble with a white background and burgundy and violet veins and fragments. Every slab is unique and, book-matched, they create symmetrical patterns with enormous impact in bathrooms, islands and feature walls (more in types of Calacatta). Lilac is more delicate: a white background with lilac and violet veins that form a large symmetrical pattern when book-matched.
Amethyst is a different thing altogether: a semi-precious slab of intense violet crystals with white and grey areas. It is made of pieces of the stone bonded with resin and polished on a backing, not cut from a solid block. Backlit, it glows like stained glass, and it is kept for bars, counters, washbasins and panels.
If you only want a hint of violet, look at the whites Dover White and Bossa Nova, with violet-toned areas, or Scarlet, a light grey with violet hues.
Tips for choosing and using them
- Pairings: pinks work beautifully with brass, pale wood and warm whites. Reds suit black and white, in a checkerboard floor for example, or dark wood. Burgundies and purples look their best with greys, whites and gold.
- The finish changes the colour. Polished, the colour deepens; honed, it softens and pink turns almost pastel. See our guide to finishes.
- Floors and stairs: Rosa Valencia and Rojo Alicante are classic flooring stones. In wet areas, outdoors or on stairs, a polished finish is slippery: choose a non-polished finish and check its slip resistance.
- Care: most of these are marbles, so lemon and vinegar leave dull marks, and they should be sealed. Onyx and amethyst need even more care.
- Consistency: in a breccia or a veined red, every slab is different. Ask for photos of the actual slabs and, on large projects, reserve consecutive slabs from the same block so they can be book-matched.
Pink, red and purple stones in our catalogue
Every photo shows a real slab in our warehouse:
Amethyst
Breccia Pontificia
Calacatta Viola
Rojo Alicante
Arcobaleno
Breccia Rosso
Cosmopolitan
Crystallo Pink
Lilac
Maragogui Pink
Michelangelo
Moulan Rouge
Orobico Red
Pink Onyx
Rosa Valencia
Rosso Lepanto
Vulkan Red
Xango Red
Looking for a stone with colour for a project? Tell us the use and dimensions and we will send you photos and videos of the slabs available. We cut pieces to size and ship worldwide.
Have a project in mind?
Ask us for a no-obligation quote: we will reply with an indicative price.