Whenever I see white marble, I’m reminded of hiking a high peak in Tuscany, which was my husband’s idea of holiday fun. After winding our way through roads as narrow as bicycle paths, passing by impossibly vertiginous villages that clung to mountainsides like creeping vines, we reached an open area where we began our climb flanked by amazingly athletic goats who hopped about on great exposed hills of rock–white marble, to be precise.

Forme Collection. Designed by Nicola Giardini Papa for Marsotto.

These goats popped up every now and again to taunt me as I clung to the mountainside, afraid to slip on the uneven ground, where I had a collection of pebbles and stones perpetually underfoot. The entire experience gave me an appreciation for metamorphic calcite, which I much prefer to see in bathrooms, as opposed to the top of Italian mountains. It also gave me a deep respect for stones: when I’m not tripping over the smooth orbs of limestone, I actually find the forms rather pretty.

Marsotto too likes the irregular shape of round rocks, as these seem to be the inspiration behind their Forme Collection of bathroom pieces, including single and double sink vanities and shower stalls. Located in Verona (the setting of Shakespeare’s first play, a comedy in which a clown named Launce and a dog named Crab steal the show), Marsotto uses white marble as a favorite material, transforming the rock into honed and gleaming sculptures that double as bathroom furniture. Designed by Nicola Giardini Papa, the Forme Lavabi features pebble-shaped cut-outs while the Forme Piatti Doccia features parabolic protrusions, which make you feel as if you’re walking on river stones while standing in the shower (an added plus is the slight foot massage). By interrupting the smooth expanse of marble, the Forme Collection enlivens the material. The shower base echoes a riverbed. And the vanity takes on a lightness not typically associated with marble–a lacy quality that’s reminiscent of light filtering through water.