Publications

Stone: Jim Durham
Rock Climbing
by Cliff Gayley, FAIA
Principal at William Rawn Associates, Architects.

Recalling our climb to the top of Zervreilahorn, the 9,500-foot peak overlooking the Vals quarry in the Swiss Alps, I appreciate what makes Jim Durham of Quarra Stone a unique force in the world. A stone supplier without a quarry and no particular stone to market, Durham combs the globe for new variations and sources. He is a consultant who can do as well as teach, a fabricator with a forte for computerized cutting and shaping. Exuberant and thoughtful, curious and proactive, he is focused on listening to and acting on the goals of architects who seek him out. “I think stone is different from other materials,” he says, “because it is more of a place; it is a holder of meaning and of history.”

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“What Happens When Architects Design Furniture?”: A question explored by two furniture exhibitions displayed simultaneously at Friedman Benda Gallery in New York. The piece to keep an eye out for is the Heavy Rocker, Designed by Leong Leong. It’s fabricated from a piece of solid gneiss and is paired with a perforated steel counterpart fabricated by Zahner.

https://www.vogue.com/article/when-architects-design-furniture-two-new-exhibitions

Check it out! Quarra’s fine work was featured in Architectural Digest on May 31, 2015. The article is by Mayer Russ, with photographs by William Waldron. The house in Aspen, Colorado was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. Quarra worked closely with the architects, creating mock-ups, fabricating and installing the custom Valser quartzite for this stunning Rocky Mountain residence. See article