About Studio Vertu

We're so excited to be carrying Studio Vertu marble coasters on sticks.com! We know you Sticks fans are conscious about what you buy and where you purchase your treasures from, so we're here to share a little bit more about their history and process with all of you. Enjoy reading on and learning more!

Studio Vertu’s success story began in 1995 when owner Mark Schmidt developed the concept of the Lightweight Fresco Tile. Promoting the product as an alternative to permanently mounted marble tiles or hand-painted mural, Mark captured the attention of The National Football League Headquarters in New York City. This project continues to be Studio Vertu’s single largest installation.

While the large jobs were great, they proved to be slow in the making. An idea to develop marble coasters soon came to the board as a means of creating sales. In the spring of 1995, Studio Vertu introduced 10 sets of Italian Marble Coasters, each consisting of four different images. Soon after an 8-inch marble trivet, an 8-inch marble clock and 2-inch marble magnets were introduced, voila, a product line was born!

Today Studio Vertu is now owned by Marlene Vaicius and under her leadership, the company is consistently working on NEW and different products to add to their line. Studio Vertu recently moved to Newport, Kentucky after spending over twenty years in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. The new studio is a working manufacturing facility. They are a small company and intend to stay small, nimble, and responsive - we LOVE that part of their story. Every single item is produced right there!  We love it that way and we think you will too. 

                    

Studio Vertu works primarily with tumbled Botticino marble imported from Verona, Italy. This particular rock is chosen for its lack of veins and lines so the printed image is not distracted by what mother nature provides.

Each piece of rock is examined by their artisans before the printing process begins. That being said, you should still expect to see the imperfections that nature provides; small nicks, dings, and fissions are to be expected – these features build in unique character and assure that no two coasters or sets will ever be the same, just like Sticks!

The coasters do not absorb moisture - think about it, marble mountains don't absorb moisture so neither will Studio Vertu's coasters. Can you imagine the mess?? Their experience with coasters that do absorb moisture is the image begins to fade and mold. Plus who wants that red wine embedded in the image?! Not us!

We hope you love browsing through their collection of amazing coasters and marble accessories on our website! Every once in a while we get asked if our plaques can be used as trivets or coasters, to which the answer is no because they're made of wood and the heat and moisture will ruin the artwork. But now you CAN use our artwork as coasters, woohoo! Shop the coasters and gifts here!