These hardwearing, beautiful and stylish stone + reclaimed wood coasters are made from white marble sourced from Uttar Pradesh, India also known regionally as home to the Taj Mahal. Each piece revealing its own variety of striations and veins in a range of colours.
This beautiful and highly durable natural stone has been used for for hundreds of years, but is it sustainable? 
Opinions are divided on white marble. Whilst it is quarried from a non-renewable source (being stone formed over millions of years just like slate) it is a strong building material and is from a readily available source, plus is also clearly a natural material, and very durable.  However the environmental issue remains that  it requires  copious amounts of water to be produced whilst cutting, and is also a heavy item to transport which all adds to it's carbon footprint. Treated well though it has an enormous lifespan and can be repaired easily.
These coasters are made from offcuts of marble that would otherwise be waste and the artisans who create them are treated fairly and with respect, and are paid a fair wage.
Keeping traditional practices alive and  finding  people fairtrade work in impoverished areas, plus a use for every scrap of sustainable material is essential to us here at Iris Lifestyle when stocking an item with a sustainability questionmark.