Plunge basins carved from granite for Seychelles villas

How a basin is made

The block is split, then the inner bowl is cut and honed smooth while the outer faces are left split and raw. That contrast is the whole design: outside it reads as a boulder; inside it is precise enough to sit in comfortably with your shoulders under water.

Our stone shop in Istanbul, which also cuts the marble for our hammams, carves the bowl in a block chosen to sit alongside the islands' grey and pink granite. If your own plot has a sound boulder in the right place, a Mahé stone contractor can work it in situ from our drawing; the insulation, waterproofing, circulation and chiller that make it a plunge are ours.

What sits behind the stone

Stone keeps cold but does not stop heat flowing in, and it does not hold water on its own. So the basin is backed with foam board and a waterproof liner, and the pipes join it below the waterline where no one sees them. With the lid on, the weight of stone becomes a store of cold that lasts the night.

Weight: why we survey before we quote

Even empty, a carved basin runs to several tonnes. Set on bedrock or a ground-bearing slab, that is no problem; on a suspended floor, a balcony or a deck, an engineer signs it off before we put a price on it. Without that sign-off we will not install one, and we will suggest a lighter insulated tub instead.

Getting it onto the terrace

From the quay at Port Victoria the crate travels by truck, then by crane if one can reach the terrace, or otherwise on a tracked carrier and rollers over a temporary track; that route is drawn and costed like the basin itself. Island jobs are limited to what the cargo boat can take.

Photograph the terrace and the way in; a drawing, the structural answer and pictures of finished basins follow.

In short

• Honed inner bowl, split outer faces — the contrast is the design
• Insulation and waterproof backing behind the stone; granite is the finish
• Engineer's confirmation on any suspended structure before we quote
• Crane, tracked carrier or temporary track, planned and priced up front