Questions We Are Asked

Yes — that is the definition of the collection. Each vessel is bored, hollowed, shaped and honed from one piece of stone: no resin core, no stone veneer over a substrate, no seam and no join in the body.

That is a claim about the body of the vessel. Surface sealers are a separate matter — every piece is sealed before despatch. It is the reason a piece weighs what it does, holds the heat of a bath the way it does, and takes between fourteen and twenty-two weeks to reach you.

Empty weights run from roughly 510 kg to 950 kg (1,120–2,090 lb). Filled to a bathing depth with someone in it, add roughly 450 kg — so 980 kg to 1,425 kg (2,160–3,140 lb) in use, over a footprint of about 1.6–1.9 m².

A carved vessel is never a uniform shell: it is thinnest in the body and thickens toward the rim and base, because that is what survives carving, an ocean crossing and daily use. Workshops build these at roughly 60–100 mm at the wall. Anyone offering you a full-size stone bath at 30 mm, or at 150 kg, is describing something moulded rather than carved.

Where a workshop has confirmed the wall it would build, we publish that figure; where it is still our estimate, we say so plainly. The complete table, in metric and imperial, is on the specifications page. Where a workshop has told us our published specification was wrong we have changed what we publish rather than hold them to it — the onyx vessels, Erebus, Atlas, Dune and Imperial have all been revised that way, and in most cases the honest number was the heavier one.

On a ground floor or a concrete slab this is rarely a question. On a suspended timber floor, or anywhere above the ground storey, ask your architect or a structural engineer to confirm the loading before you reserve — every piece in the collection exceeds the live load a typical US residential floor is designed for. We will send the exact measured figures for your piece at no charge. We would far rather you checked than guessed.

The waste outlet is cored and a pop-up waste fitted before dispatch. There is no tap on the vessel itself: the filler is floor- or wall-mounted and chosen by you, which is why rough-in drawings and the waste position are issued at reservation, well before a bathroom is closed up. The connection is made by your own licensed plumber working to those drawings.

The crate comes to your ground-floor threshold. Moving several hundred kilos of stone through a finished house is rigging work rather than delivery — tell us where the piece should stand and we will quote it with a specialist in your city, or coordinate with your builder while the room is still open.

Partly — and we would rather tell you exactly how before you spend the money.

The glow is not uniform. Lit from behind, the body and side walls of a honey onyx vessel glow warmly. The rim is carved heavier for strength, so it reads as a distinctly darker, non-translucent band along the top edge. The light lives in the walls, not the edge. That is what the stone actually does, and the workshop told us so unprompted.

And not all onyx is translucent. Honey onyx transmits light readily; white onyx largely does not, and holds it on the surface instead. If backlighting is the reason you want the piece, choose Candela in honey onyx rather than Alba. We would rather say so than sell you the wrong vessel.

You can. Each piece is shown in the stone the form was drawn for, but most can be cut from an alternative block. Say so at reservation and we will send photographs of what is available and re-quote if the material changes the price.

Occasionally the answer is no, and we will say so: green onyx blocks large enough for a full-size vessel are not currently being quarried, which is why Verde is offered in green marble rather than substituted quietly.

Beyond the collection we accept a small number of fully bespoke commissions each season, drawn to your room and your dimensions, from $125,000 — above the top of the standard collection, because a piece drawn to one room costs more to make than one we have already solved.

Everything is purchased directly on this site. Checkout is secure and handled by Shopify: payment in full.

Your order is then held for three days. During those three days we assess the logistics for your address — access, floor level, whether rigging is needed, and the delivery route — and we come back to you in writing with the plan. Nothing is ordered and no block is committed to the workshop during this window.

Once the hold ends and your payment has cleared, your commission is released to the bench and a block is selected and cut for you — 6 to 20 weeks at the bench depending on the stone and the form.

Yes — and so may we. The three-day logistics hold and the cancellation window are one window, not two: within 72 hours of payment clearing either party may cancel, with a full refund either way. You may cancel for any reason at all, and need give none. We may cancel if the workshop cannot commit to your piece or the logistics for your address cannot be confirmed — in which case we tell you why and refund you in full, and no block has been cut.

If the logistics assessment turns up something you do not like — a rigging cost, an access problem — you can walk away inside that window at no cost. To cancel, write to atelier@atelierearthmade.com with your order number and we confirm the cancellation and the refund by return.

After 72 hours your order is placed with the workshop and manufacture begins — the block is bought and cut — and the commission cannot be cancelled or refunded, unless we agree otherwise with you in writing by email. None of this affects your rights if a piece arrives late, damaged, faulty or not as described.

Five things, at the moments they become true. Within the three-day hold: the logistics plan for your address. At reservation: your piece, its dimensions, and your dates, once your block is selected. Before the piece moves: the sum insured on your shipment. Before any balance is due: the exact measured weight of your vessel with its footprint and load-spread figures. Before despatch: photographs of the finished piece for your approval — nothing ships until you have seen it.

We would rather tell you a true date late than a comfortable one early.

One price, delivered. It includes the carving itself, crating, export documentation, ocean freight, transit insurance with the sum insured stated in writing on your order, and all US import duty and customs clearance. Atelier Earthmade is the importer of record: our broker files the entry in our name, we settle the duty, and nothing further is ever payable on delivery.

Where we are registered to collect it, state sales tax is shown at checkout before you pay — it is the only amount ever added.

Checkout delivers to the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US territories are not served through checkout — a crated vessel of several hundred kilograms reaches them by ocean or air freight at a cost we will not guess at. We do ship there, and internationally, but those commissions begin with a conversation rather than a checkout. Send us an enquiry and we will price it properly for your address.

Delivery is booked with you by appointment and the piece arrives crated, to your ground-floor threshold. Inspect the crate and the piece before you sign — take your time, and do not let a driver rush you.

If anything is damaged: refuse the delivery, note the damage on the carrier’s paperwork, photograph the crate and the piece where you can, and tell us the same day. We take it from there — we handle the insurer and the carrier, and you deal only with us. Your replacement or refund follows from that claim.

If all is sound, sign, and keep the crate and packaging until the piece is installed and confirmed good. Rigging, craning and stair carries are not included; tell us where the piece must stand and we will quote it with a specialist in your city.

The shipment is insured in transit, door to door, and the cover is bound before the piece moves — the sum insured is confirmed to you in writing on your order. In transit, nothing is at your risk.

The cover depends on the delivery being refused if the piece arrives damaged. That refusal is the event that lets us claim against the carrier and the insurer. Accepting a damaged delivery undermines the claim, so if in any doubt on the day, refuse it and call us.

Cover runs to the moment of delivery. Once the piece is accepted and in the house, our cover and our liability end — the insurance is on the journey, not on the stone’s life afterwards. Where the workshop that made your piece offers a manufacturer’s warranty, we pass it through on their terms and tell you what applies before you buy.

Three days of logistics assessment, then fourteen to twenty-two weeks from reservation. Roughly half of that is carving and finishing; the rest is ocean freight and clearance. Air freight removes about four weeks from the shipping leg and is quoted on request.

We confirm your dates in writing once your block is selected, and we would rather tell you a true date late than a comfortable one early. If we ever miss a confirmed date, you choose between a revised date in writing or a full refund.

If it arrives that way, refuse the delivery — see above. That is the whole procedure, and it is the only thing that needs to happen on the day.

Once the piece is accepted and in the house, small edge chips in natural stone are repairable in place; we will advise, and where we can we will point you to a stone restorer in your region.

Natural fissures, colour movement and vein lines are characteristics of the material rather than faults; they are the reason you chose stone. Day-to-day care is deliberately small — see Materials & Care.