Illuminated Natural Stone — Astonishing Effects through Backlighting

Backlight for Natural Stone

A natural stone is always unique – a painting of colors, grains and shapes crafted by nature over thousands of years. With the right lighting, this feast for the senses can be staged quite splendidly, especially with backlit natural stone. In this article, we will therefore focus on the aesthetic effect and technical aspects of backlighting for natural stone. And if you like what you see, we invite you to discover the whole variety of illuminated natural stone in our showrooms.

Which Natural Stones are Translucent?

For effective, luminous natural stones, you naturally need a translucent stone. However, not every stone allows light to shine through to the same extent. There are types of stone that become translucent from just a few centimeters thick, while some hardly allow any light to shine through at all.

Thanks to the latest technologies, however, extremely thin layers can be cut out of a stone and bonded to a glass pane. The so-called “thin stone technology” makes it possible to backlight almost any stone because the thin thickness of the stone layer allows light to pass through. The advantage of this technology is therefore mainly the wide choice of materials. However, the manufacturing process is quite complex and the result, although beautiful, is not particularly “deep” in its effect.

So if you want to enjoy the extravagant, vivid depth effect of a real stone slab, you should go for the combination of onyx with light. Onyx (also referred to as onyx marble) is translucent from a thickness of 2 cm and therefore particularly suitable for backlighting. It thus combines translucent and construction properties and therefore offers a very wide range of applications in the construction of translucent objects, such as lighting a natural stone wall or a washbasin.

It is also characterized by its richness of color and its multi-layered nature (onyx is a very expressive, dominant stone) and is particularly effective when onyx is backlit. The various layers and color gradients in the stone create an elegant depth effect when backlit. This visual “penetration” of the stone has a very special aesthetic.

Which Lighting Material is used for Backlit Natural Stone?

If a natural stone is backlit, the choice of the right illuminant is important. The choice, positioning and setting of the light source should always depend on the stone, or its appearance and its use. For example, should a warm or cool effect be achieved? Which light temperature goes particularly well with the color scheme of the stone? Such aspects are always taken into account at Real Stein when designing a backlit stone object.

Quite independently of such design issues, LED technology is always particularly well suited as a light source for backlit natural stone. The reasons for this are the small installation depth of LED lighting, the possibility of large-area illumination to create or avoid halos, and the high energy efficiency despite maximum brightness.

Also possible, of course, is the integration of the illuminants into one’s own smart home architecture. In general, there are hardly any limits to the technical possibilities. Thus, sensors for controlling the light or similar technology highlights can also be used, which give your backlit stone that little extra.