If marble furniture conjures up images of look-but-don’t-touch antiques in grandiose stately homes or as an ill-conceived accompaniment to gold taps, then it’s time for a re-think. London-based furniture manufacturer Dzek has teamed up with Brit designer Max Lamb (the first in a host of collaborations) to create a new type of marble, called Marmoreal, which is flecked with different coloured stones giving it a thoroughly contemporary look not unlike slabs of fruit-filled nougat.

As with most of Dzek’s products, the starting point for the new collection (which features tiles, tables, book shelves and stools) was to concoct, develop and test a brand new material. Lamb, known for his experimental alchemist-like design process, started investigating existing agglomerate stones like terrazzo (a composite made from chips of marble, quartz, granite and glass, and a binder) before coming up with a colourful material formed from four different types of Veronese marble and polyester resin to hold it all together. The final collection, which was debuted at last week’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, opts for clean, chunky forms to showcase the speckled patternation. The result is almost good enough to eat.