On the occasion of the London Design Festival 2018 and as part of its main programme, First Stone challenged Michael Anastassiades to conceive a public space installation. With a strong focus on environmental sustainability, product designer Michael Anastassiades considered how off-cuts and discarded remains of otherwise perfect marble could be used in the context of a road. The challenge of the design was how to use recycled stone, a byproduct of the industry, through minimal cost-effective processing – so as not to create additional waste. The result is Mint Street, a permanent stone paving intervention devised for a secluded street in London, using a variety of Portuguese marble.

The outcome design makes reference to different types of traditional cobbles seen throughout Portugal from where the stone is quarried. Located in London’s Borough of Southwark, the effect of all these combined elements creates a stone carpet that aims to contribute to the urban landscape of the Mint Street Park area whilst creating a new connection between the park and its surrounding neighbourhood.