Ashlar is a luxury accessories and objects house. Our current collections are founded entirely in volcanic obsidian — a material of exceptional geological rarity and singular visual character. It is obsidian that defines both the aesthetic and the ambition of what we present.
We represent objects for those who understand that the material a house chooses is not an aesthetic decision — it is a statement of everything the house believes about what an object should be.
There is a tradition — older than any living luxury house — of commissioning objects of extraordinary beauty for daily use. The Renaissance patron did not reserve his finest pieces for ceremony. He placed them where they could be seen, handled, and lived with. The beauty was the point. The cost was inseparable from it.
Ashlar House was founded in that tradition.
We bring together objects in which artistic intention and material excellence are inseparable. Every piece carries an intention that elevates it beyond utility and into something closer to art. Not art to be looked at from a distance, but art that is handled, used, and lived with daily. As it has always been, for those who understood the difference.
Every piece we commission is held to the same standard — whether expressed through engraving, applied gold, and surface treatment, or through the absolute purity of form that asks nothing of the material except that it be itself. Both are valid. Both are uncompromising. Neither apologises for what it costs.
We work with a small number of private clients and collectors, by direct enquiry. All pieces are available to view by appointment, and bespoke commissions are always considered.
Obsidian is not chosen for effect. It is chosen because no other material possesses its particular combination of visual gravity, tactile precision, and geological age.
Volcanic obsidian is formed when lava cools too rapidly for a crystalline structure to develop. The result is a natural glass — entirely amorphous, with a depth of colour and a surface reflectivity that shifts with light and angle. Inclusions, variations in translucency, and subtle tonal differences within each block make every piece unique. No two objects in the Ashlar House collections are identical.
The stone used for our products originates from the Araratian highlands — a region of exceptional volcanic character where obsidian has formed and been worked for millennia. Long before it appeared in luxury interiors, it served as surgical blades: valued precisely for its capacity to hold an edge finer than steel. We use it for objects that endure on a different kind of edge.
The Araratian highlands are among the most geologically diverse obsidian sources in the world. The region yields varieties found nowhere else in combination: Jet Black, Brown Burl, Silver Sheen, Translucent and Semi-Translucent natural obsidian. Each variety has its own character, its own demands, and its own appropriate applications.
On select pieces, the obsidian body is complemented with applications of 24-karat gold plate or other long-lasting precious metal finishes, applied by hand and refined until the proportion between stone and metal resolves. The visual contrast between volcanic black and the warmth of gold is absolute — a pairing that produces a tension no other material combination achieves. These treatments are available on specific pieces within the collections and across bespoke commissions.
Every Ashlar House piece is made by hand. This is not a distinction we trade on — it is a consequence of the material. Obsidian does not yield to industrial process; its natural character demands individual attention at every stage, and no two pieces emerge from it identically. What results is not simply a finished object but a record of the decisions made in producing it.
The techniques employed in our pieces include proprietary high-heat surface imprinting — a process that transfers pattern directly into the stone in ways no two applications produce identically — alongside precision 3D engraving and, on select pieces, applications of 24-karat gold plate and other long-lasting precious metal finishes, burnished by hand until the proportion between stone and metal is resolved.
Our obsidian collections are produced in partnership with Vanakat, a specialist atelier whose mastery of volcanic stone is unmatched. Ashlar House holds the exclusive rights to present Vanakat's obsidian work in the United Kingdom.
All pieces are available to view privately by appointment. For pricing, availability, and bespoke commissions — including custom dimensions, metal finishes, and surface treatments — we respond to all enquiries personally. There are no waiting lists, only conversations.