Look closely at the top of the Bend Goods terrazzo tables and you'll see the whole history of the material. Flecks of marble, glass, and stone suspended in a white cement base — each piece slightly different, each one made by hand.
Terrazzo is one of the oldest surface materials still in active use. It predates most furniture trends by about 500 years. Here's what it actually is, how it's made, and why it's worth understanding before you spec it.
What terrazzo is made of
Traditional terrazzo is a composite: a binder (cement or epoxy resin) mixed with aggregate chips and then ground and polished smooth. The aggregate is what gives terrazzo its character — historically marble and granite offcuts, increasingly glass, mother of pearl, shell, recycled materials, or combinations of all of the above.
The Bend Goods terrazzo tops use a cement-based terrazzo with a marble and stone aggregate mix set in white cement. The octagonal tops you see in production are poured in molds, cured, then hand-ground and polished to a smooth, matte finish. No two tops are exactly the same — the aggregate distribution shifts slightly with every pour.
How it's made
The traditional process hasn't changed much in centuries:
- Aggregate chips are mixed into a wet cement or resin binder
- The mixture is poured into a mold or applied to a surface in sections
- It cures — for cement terrazzo, this takes days
- The surface is ground down with progressively finer abrasives until smooth
- It's sealed and polished to the desired finish
What you're looking at in the photo above is terrazzo tops fresh from the mold, before grinding — you can see the raw poured surface with aggregate visible. After grinding, the surface becomes smooth and the aggregate pattern comes through clearly.
Is terrazzo safe?
Yes — terrazzo is one of the more inert surface materials in furniture and architecture. A few specifics worth knowing:
Cement-based terrazzo uses portland cement as the binder. Once cured, it's chemically stable, non-toxic, and doesn't off-gas. The aggregate — marble, granite, glass — is equally inert.
Epoxy-based terrazzo (common in flooring) uses synthetic resin instead of cement. Once fully cured, epoxy is also non-toxic. The concern with epoxy is during fabrication — uncured epoxy resin is a sensitizer and requires proper handling by the maker. By the time it reaches you as a finished product, it's fully cured and stable.
The Bend Goods terrazzo is cement-based. No epoxy, no synthetic binders — just cement, aggregate, and water.
Sealing: Most terrazzo tops are sealed with a penetrating stone sealer to protect against staining. The sealers used are the same category as those used on marble countertops — food-safe once cured, which takes 24–72 hours after application. Resealing every year or two is standard maintenance for terrazzo used outdoors or in high-traffic settings.
Why terrazzo fits hospitality
The reason terrazzo has appeared in airports, hotels, restaurants, and museums for centuries is that it performs. It's dense, heavy, resistant to scratching, and with proper sealing, resistant to staining. It doesn't corrode. It doesn't rust. It doesn't fade in sunlight.
The weight is real — terrazzo tops are heavier than comparable stone or porcelain — which makes them stable on a table base and unlikely to move in wind or foot traffic. For a restaurant patio or a hotel lobby side table, that's a feature, not a drawback.
The only genuine limitation is impact. Terrazzo can chip if struck sharply at an edge. It's dense, not flexible — a heavy drop at the wrong angle will leave a mark. For high-abuse environments, this is worth considering.
The Bend Goods terrazzo tables
The Terrazzo Switch Table pairs a hexagonal terrazzo top with a powder-coated steel base — the same base used across the Switch collection. Indoor and outdoor rated. Available in White.
The Terrazzo Table uses the same terrazzo top in a round format on a wire base — the Bend Goods wire vocabulary applied to a material that's been used in architecture since the Renaissance.
Both are available for commercial orders with trade pricing.
Questions about specifying terrazzo for a restaurant or hotel project? Email us at info@bendgoods.com.