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Athena Calderone: The Tribeca Collection

The stones that shaped a home.

I have had a long love affair with natural stone. How it carries within it ancient memory. How every vein, every hue, holds a layer of time preserved for eternity. It’s why I am so inexplicably drawn to its beauty. 

For my Tribeca home, I leaned into restraint, choosing stones that recede into the design while simultaneously making a statement. Every glance reveals a new detail, a geological past that continues to capture my imagination with awe and wonder.

Over the years, I have developed a beautifully symbiotic relationship with ABC Stone, making them a natural creative partner for this home. Whether I returned from my travels enamored with the red porphyry of the Sarcophagus of Saint Helena at the Vatican or fixated on the green marble ceiling of Adolf Loos’ American Bar in Vienna, they understood my vision, sourcing stones with the same depth, nuance, and visual integrity.

Each stone reveals a surface embedded with feeling —a way to carry time, history, and emotion through the rooms my family lives in every day.

  • Red Kinnekulle Limestone
  • St. Croix Hudson Blend
  • Verde Alpi Layer A
  • Petit Granit HB
  • Red Porphyry

Photography By Kate Jordan
Videography By Lula Hyers

Red Kinnekulle Limestone And Petit Granit HB

This home was a lesson in trusting my curiosity and the atypical nature of my creative process. I was drawn to the restrained material character of early 20th-century design, which led me on a design escapade of self-study and inquiry in search of a stone that embodied this sensibility, but had never been used in a kitchen before. During a trip to Copenhagen, I found the answer: Kinnekulle, a Swedish limestone in a deep oxblood red embedded with delicate marine fossils. Its matte, tonal surface offers an elegant contrast to the rich, glossy lacquer base of the island, while its low porosity makes it as practical as it is beautiful. For the counter beyond, I chose the refined stone, Petit Granit HB, dotted with pale speckles and tiny fossils that catch the light like stars.

Discover Red Kinnekulle Limestone
Discover Petit Granit HB

St. Croix Hudson Blend

When selecting the hallway stone, I was initially drawn to a clean limestone, but after further inquiry, I realized it lacked the subtle movement I was seeking. On a trip to Rome, I encountered one threaded with fossils. Back home, I found its match in the ABC yard: St. Croix, a French natural stone from Sainte-Croix-de-Mareuil, whose fossilized shells and marine life imbue it with warmth and tactility. It became the connective thread of the home—wrapping the hallway in horizontal seams, cladding the living room fireplace, and lining the primary bath, where Milan and Vienna meet Tribeca. What looks beautifully simple here took every bit of craft to achieve.

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Red Porphyry

My fixation with this ancient stone began in Rome upon viewing the sacred sarcophagus of St. Helena. Then back in New York, I was awestruck once again by the imperial bath at the Met dating as far back as 2nd–3rd century CE. This deep red-purple stone was so prized it was once reserved for emperors. By incorporating this regal stone into the mosaic floor of our home’s vestibule, we welcome that grand sense of ceremony as people enter. It returns in the primary bath, framing the perimeter of the tub and room, where its deep oxblood ties back to the Kinnekulle in the kitchen and threads the whole collection together in a single, noble red.

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Verde Alpi Layer A

The powder room is a jewel box, so I designed it like one. Deep green Verde Alpi marble wraps the custom sink I created with ABC Stone and my design firm, Studio Athena Calderone—hand-carved in Italy from a solid block. I chose this deep green marble for its connection to the Adolf Loos’ American Bar in Vienna and its frequent use in 1930s Milan, particularly by Piero Portaluppi. Paris also informed this space—particularly my time at Auguste Perret’s apartment, which, along with the bathroom at Casa de Serralves in Portugal by architect José Marques da Silva, inspired the sink’s fluted base design. A mosaic floor of Verde Alpi and Cream de Lyon grounds the room, while the mirrored upper walls and ceiling—another nod to Loos’—makes the diminutive space feel infinite.

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Petit Granit HB

What this petite ensuite lacks in size, it certainly makes up for in beauty. I collaborated with ABC Stone to design a custom, hand-carved vanity in Petit Granit, fabricated in Italy. We carried the same stone through to the datum, and the mosaic flooring paired with Cream de Lyon, unifying the design language. This stone is elegantly refined while also being dense and durable, making it well suited to a space used every day.

Discover Petit Granit HB