The Marble Garden (Herbert Bayer 1955) at The Aspen Meadows, home of the Aspen Institute

Before marble became a decorating staple, it was for a century or ten, a stone more often found in temples, museums, office lobbies, and statuary,

In fact, one of America’s most famous statues, The Lincoln Memorial, was carved from marble quarried only a few miles from Aspen in the aptly named Marble, CO. Despite its exceptional quality, the quarry went bust until only a few years ago.

Aspen Institute attendees performing “Antigone'“ in 1955

By 1946, over in Aspen, Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke were in full renovation mode, turning Aspen into the elegant, cultural ski community it is today. They hired an Austrian artist named Herbert Bayer to be their in-house artist and creative director. Among many, many other projects, Bayer set out to create a marble sculpture garden. While money was a bit tight, the brilliant Pussy (Elizabeth Paepcke’s nickname) had an idea. Why not just take some left over blocks growing moss over in Marble? 

Anaconda, Herbert Bayer, 1979 at The Aspen Institute

Bayer did just that and created his elegant Marble Garden in 1955. As a lovely coda, some 60 years later, the Aspen Institute purchased another marble sculpture by Herbert Bayer.  Entitled, Anaconda (after the steel company, not the snake) it now sits near Anderson Park with a fabulous view of Highlands Bowl.

Anaconda’s marble comes from Tuscany, just like ours. Check out all our lovely custom marble sinks here.

(To learn more about Herbert Bayer and his Bauhaus influences on Aspen, check out Bauhaus100Aspen.org. There will be events all 2019 celebrating the centennial of the Bauhaus School.)

This Friday, August 25th, we're very excited to unveil our custom designed ping-pong table. Made entirely from the Carrara marble, this elegant, made-to-order show-piece will be a beautiful addition to any room. Come this Friday and test your skills with our tournament and plenty of free cocktails. 

If you're having a hard time imagining Ping-pong tables anywhere but the basement, you may be surprised to learn that the game was actually born in the tony smoking rooms of English country houses.  

Victorian England marked high tide for the British Empire and with that world domination came lots of big houses, big parties and a robust class of idle rich. The legend goes that British soldiers on leave from India came home with a fun new parlor game that required only a flat surface, some books and a golf ball. A modified champagne cork would do in a pinch. And so it came to be, table tennis, whiff-whaff, or Ping-pong which an industrious British manufacturer packaged, trademarked and later sold to Parker Brothers. 

By the 1920s, Ping-pong had become a bona fide thing, with the founding of the International Table Tennis Federation and first official world championship in 1926. Today Ping-pong is enjoying a Millennial resurgence at social clubs like SPiN, which has branches across the country and of course soon to be the Birkin Bag of your Aspen home. 

P.S. In addition to the Ping-pong table, we also have a line of custom marble sink, side tables and sculptures.