During stone selection, it’s normal to provide newly quarried or antique stone samples and corresponding images to help designers realise their design vision. However, some clients prefer to take this one step further by requesting mock-ups.
Can mock-ups make a significant difference in stone selection?
Considered a useful way to test designs and help make stone decisions, mock-ups allow designers to compare different combinations of stones and finishes. Natural stone suppliers use mock-ups to demonstrate the benefits of using one technique over another.
Additionally, mock-ups show natural stone in its true light. Being a natural product, there can be some variation in colour and texture, which is all part of the beauty of natural stone. But this may not be so obvious from samples alone. Therefore, mock-ups let you see what the stone for your building will look like on a larger canvas.
Every natural stone supplier has their own method of producing and sending mock-ups.
For instance, Rhodes Architectural Stone photographs each mock-up and shares the shots with the client for consideration and approval. Mock-ups can also be viewed onsite before finalising the stone or stone combination. For this, the mock-ups are shipped to the project site where all stakeholders from the architect and designer to the builder, installer and client can visualise the stone scale, material and finish in the actual environment. The same stone can look different in a factory setting in Asia, a retail outlet in New Jersey, a holiday home in Aspen or a seaside location in Sydney.
Mock-ups can help to ensure consistency in the end product; tradesmen, for instance, are known to use these mock-ups as reference when installing the stone.
While mock-ups aren’t mandatory in design projects, they really do help with visualising the final design outcome while ensuring your choice of natural stone and finish is on target.
