No longer confined to floors and walls, Terrazzo has taken over furniture and lighting in 2014. The traditional Italian surface material made from chips of marble set in cement has been taken in fresh new directions as designers experiment with new forms, technologies and recycled materials.

Strung up with brightly colored cord, the terrazzo shades of Guangzhou, China-based studio Bentu’s ‘Tu’ lamps are made from recycled waste that can be made in three color ways.

At the Wallpaper Handmade exhibition in Milan this year, German designer Sebastian Herkner showcased the ‘Skid’ side table and bench made in collaboration with Israeli quartz surfaces brand Caesarstone. Inspired by archaic wooden structures and knock-down furniture, Herkner's asymmetric ‘Skid’ bench is slotted together from 21 flat panels of Caesarstone quartz.

This year, London-based materials brand dzek debuted its first architectural material and furniture collection with British designer Max Lamb. Called ‘Marmoreal’, this  engineered marble combines colorful Rosso Verona, Giallo Mori, Verde Alpi and Bianco Verona within strong polyester resin binders. Whereas traditional terrazzo is made up of much smaller, fine pieces of marble, Marmoreal’s aggregates are large and rough cut, creating a bold but beautiful surface.

Contrasted with bright blue anodized aluminum legs, the terrazzo-esque top of Victoria Wilmotte’s ‘White Chip’ table is made from black and white Corian.

Shimmering lights begins to flicker below when you move across the interactive Sensitile Terrazzo tiles. The surface is produced using a large percentage of recycled materials embedded with a series of fibre optics that pick up changes in light and disperse them on to the surface, where they shift and move to create a rippling effect.