The Union of Marble and Leather: Kreoo & Gruppo Mastrotto
In premium interior design, the most interesting work often comes from deliberately blending two entirely different manufacturing disciplines to challenge standard design boundaries. When two distinct materials meet productively, it forces designers away from predictable forms and creates something completely unexpected. A beautiful example of this is the collaboration between Italian stone pioneer Kreoo and leather giant Gruppo Mastrotto, brought together under the artistic direction of French architect and designer Christophe Pillet. By blending Kreoo's stone-carving craftsmanship with Gruppo Mastrotto's high-fashion leather processing, the collection creates a dialogue between structural weight and soft warmth.
The hero piece of the collection is the Holly armchair. Pillet reinterprets the traditional armchair layout entirely, replacing standard internal timber frames with an organic, structural stone skeleton. The outer shell is carved from a single block of Navona Travertine, its natural porosity and warm, sand-like tone left to define the form of the seat. Kreoo describes it as a bucket-style shell, ergonomic and enveloping, with a play of curves and depths that gives the piece a monolithic, almost sculptural presence. The seat and cushions are finished in half-grain cowhide from Gruppo Mastrotto's Linea range, in a soft olive-green tone with a waxy texture and semi-matte finish. Kreoo's own team describes the effect as the memory of a luminous garden, the warmth of the leather playing off the pale, sun-bleached quality of the travertine.
The Holly armchair by Christophe Pillet combines an enveloping shell of carved Navona Travertine with premium, soft-grain leather from Gruppo Mastrotto.. Source: Kreoo
The Queen table balances the sharp, sweeping metamorphic patterns of Calacatta Viola marble with a flush, silky nappa leather surface inlay.. Source: Kreoo
The same material language extends across two other pieces in the collection. The Queen table takes a more urban, international turn, its base built from three sculptural sections of Calacatta Viola marble, prized for its bold, deep wine-coloured veining. The tabletop wraps a smooth, radiused stone edge around a central leather inlay from Gruppo Mastrotto, giving dinner guests a warm, silky surface to rest their hands against rather than cold stone throughout. The Ever bench takes a more minimal, geometric approach, built from interlocking marble slabs cut to varying thicknesses, with small raised borders on each short side holding three handcrafted leather cushions in place, each finished with exposed topstitching that puts the workshop craftsmanship of both brands on display.
For progressive architecture and design studios, this collaboration is a useful case study in balancing materials. It breaks the old assumption that marble has to remain a hard, flat architectural cladding, and shows it can function as a genuine piece of luxury furniture. By replacing traditional timber or metal frameworks with carved stone, Pillet gives each piece a permanent, statuesque presence, while the leather brings back the comfort and ergonomics that stone alone can't offer.
Specifying a piece of mixed-media furniture that combines substantial carved Italian marble with tailored leather components leaves very little margin for error. If a room's floor levels are uneven by even a couple of millimetres, a heavy freestanding stone armchair or a multi-legged table can rock, placing undue stress on the stone joins. At PietraCasa, we act as the design and engineering bridge between Italy's material workshops and your finished project. Our in-house team uses sub-millimetre digital laser scans to verify sub-floor tolerances ahead of delivery, and handles transport and installation with the care this kind of carved stone furniture demands, ensuring the craftsmanship behind Kreoo and Gruppo Mastrotto's work integrates beautifully into your space.
Visit our Poole design studio to see our library of Kreoo marble options alongside fine leather material swatches, or contact our team to coordinate custom furniture specifications for your upcoming project.