Incoming 

New floor terrazzo by Bomarbre from overstock

The Bomarbre-Marbralys factory in Harelbeke was the last terrazzo factory active in Belgium before production was transferred to Italy. From 1950 to 2018, it supplied tiles, stairs, slabs and façade panels in terrazzo. One of its most distinctive products was the traditional 30 x 30 x 3 cm tile.

When terrazzo tiles are made using traditional methods, each batch is different. It is the result of a unique mix of marble fragments - selected for their aspect and granulometry - combined with cement and pigments. In fact, much of the production was custom-made, designed for a specific building. Over the last decades, Marbralys has supplied floor tiles for many major projects: the Bruges railway station, the Beursschouwburg in Brussels, the Minnaert building of the University of Utrecht, etc. As there is rarely a 100% match between the quantity produced and the quantity delivered to the site, the factory accumulated pallets of finished tiles. When Marbralys closed its doors, these quantities amounted to almost 30,000 m²! The parent company, Stone Olsene, refused to simply discard this stock and moved it all to a temporary storage facility in Oudenaarde. This was an interesting decision, as manufacturers are usually reluctant to keep depreciated stock. In 2022, Stone contacted Rotor DC to ask if we could help them find new users for this extremely refined and robust material. Not really a second-hand product, as it had never been installed. But not really new either, as it is the remnant of a series of custom-made, one-off production batches, which also show some dust and minor damage from handling and prolonged storage.

Until this winter, we distributed these terrazzo tiles while the majority of the stock was still stored at the original location in Oudenaarde. Then the warehouse in Oudenaarde had to be emptied, so the remaining 750 or so pallets were brought to Rotor DC. Moving such a quantity was literally like moving a mountain. Now this beautiful material is safe here, good for a few more years of wonderful projects!