The short answer: a hand-carved stone basin takes roughly six weeks from quarry block to your bathroom — about one week selecting and cutting the block, two to three weeks carving and finishing it in the workshop, several days of drying and quality control, and one to two weeks in transit under DDP terms. The stone itself comes from a country that holds around 40% of the world's natural stone reserves. Here is what actually happens in each of those weeks, and why the calendar looks the way it does.
We carve every basin in our own workshop in Türkiye, from blocks we choose ourselves. So rather than describe an idealised process, here is the real one — with the numbers that govern it.
Week 0: the reserve the block comes out of
Anatolia is not a marginal stone region. According to the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (Natural Stones info bank, updated 30 June 2026), the country holds approximately 63.11 billion tonnes of natural stone reserves — about 40% of the world total — broken down as 4 billion m³ of exploitable marble, 2.8 billion m³ of travertine and 1 billion m³ of granite, or 7.8 billion m³ of extractable resource in all.
Production follows the reserve: 15.08 million tonnes of natural stone produced in Türkiye during 2025, of which 69.8% was marble and 19.5% travertine. The Ministry also notes something older — while stone work on Marmara Island was long dated to about 4,000 years ago, finds at Göbekli Tepe pushed stone use in Anatolia back to roughly 11,600 years.
Two of the stones we work with are named by the Ministry among Türkiye's internationally recognised varieties: Milas Leylak — the lilac-veined white marble quarried around Milas in Muğla province — and Denizli Travertine. More on both in our Materials guide.
Week 1: choosing the block, not just the stone
A basin is carved from one solid block, which means the block decides the piece. At the quarry we are looking at three things: vein direction, soundness, and whether the block is large enough to yield the bowl without a seam.
Vein direction matters more than most buyers expect. Bedded stones can be cut two ways: vein cut, sawn against the bedding planes for a linear, striped face, and fleuri cut (cross cut), sawn parallel to the bedding for a flowery, random figure. The Natural Stone Institute's Dimension Stone Design Manual notes the two cuts also behave differently under load and "must be tested for the type of cut being used." A basin carved fleuri from a lilac block looks nothing like the same block cut vein.
Blocks come out by diamond wire saw rather than blasting. Cutting is abrasion only: no shock loading, no micro-fracturing propagating into the stone you are about to carve a 40 cm bowl out of.
Weeks 2–4: carving
This is the long stretch, and it is long because it is subtractive. A rectangular block becomes a basin by removing everything that isn't one — roughing out the exterior, hollowing the bowl, then shaping details like fluting or an apron front by hand.
The weight tells you why it is slow. Marble is not "heavy-ish"; it has a specified minimum density. ASTM C503/C503M-15 sets 162 lb/ft³ (2,600 kg/m³) as the minimum for Classification I calcite marble. A block big enough for a 60 × 40 cm basin starts near 400 lb and finishes around 90–130 lb. Every kilogram in between is removed at a rate a person can control, because a stress crack introduced at week two is discovered at week five.
Travertine carves faster but demands different judgement. Per NSI's published property ranges, travertine runs 140–165 lb/ft³ in density, 5,000–10,500 psi compressive strength, and 0.10–2.5% absorption by weight (ASTM C97). Those voids are the stone's character, but the carver has to decide hole by hole what gets filled. NSI's guidance: holes larger than 2 cm across, or holes passing through the stone, should be filled with a cemented travertine chip.
Week 5: drying, finishing, and the honest part
Freshly worked stone holds water from cutting. It gets dried, then honed or polished, then sealed and inspected under raking light for hairlines the wet surface hid.
Here the Natural Stone Institute says the thing we would rather say ourselves. Its Dimension Stone Design Manual states plainly: "Travertine is a product of nature and not always subject to the rules of consistent behavior that may apply to manufactured building materials." The same manual advises that "selection of a travertine should never be made on the basis of one sample only." That is why we photograph the actual piece before it ships rather than sending a catalogue image. You are approving your block, not a category.
Week 6: crate, customs, doorstep
The basin is foam-wrapped and screwed into a purpose-built timber crate, then moves under DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) terms — duties and clearance settled before dispatch, so nothing is owed on arrival. The route is well travelled: the Ministry records the United States as Türkiye's largest natural stone export destination in 2025, at $461.96 million, ahead of China at $391.28 million. Exports rose 7.2% year on year, and 68.38% of that value was processed goods rather than raw blocks — exactly the lane a carved basin sits in.
The six weeks at a glance
| Stage | Typical duration | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Block selection & cutting | 5–8 days | Vein direction, block soundness, quarry availability |
| Roughing out | 4–6 days | Volume of stone to remove; ~162 lb/ft³ of it |
| Bowl hollowing & detail carving | 8–14 days | Fluting, apron fronts and backsplashes add days |
| Drying, honing, sealing, QC | 4–6 days | Moisture from cutting; finish specified |
| Crating & DDP transit to US | 7–14 days | Air vs road-sea, customs clearance |
Bespoke dimensions do not usually add time at the carving stage — they add it at the block stage, because we may wait for a block that yields your size cleanly. That is the honest trade for a piece cut from one stone rather than assembled from slabs, a difference we break down in hand-carved vs. factory-made.
Two pieces that made this journey
Background on each stone family sits in our travertine sink guide and our Calacatta Viola guide; the wider category, including mounting and sizing, is covered in the stone sink guide and in custom marble sinks. Shipping is unpacked step by step in DDP shipping from Turkey to the US.
Working to a deadline? Send us your dimensions and your install date — we will tell you which stones we can source a block for in time, and which we cannot. Start a custom order →
FAQ
How long does a hand-carved stone sink take to make?
About six weeks door to door: 5–8 days to select and cut the block, roughly 12–20 days of carving and detail work, 4–6 days for drying, finishing and inspection, and 7–14 days in DDP transit to the United States. Fluting, apron fronts and backsplashes sit at the upper end of the carving range.
Why does Türkiye supply so much of the world's marble?
Reserves and geology. The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources puts national natural stone reserves at roughly 63.11 billion tonnes — about 40% of the world total — including 4 billion m³ of exploitable marble and 2.8 billion m³ of travertine. Türkiye sits on the Alpine–Himalayan belt, which produced that variety of crystalline limestone, travertine and magmatic stone.
Will my sink look exactly like the photo?
Close, but not identical — every basin is carved from a different block. The Natural Stone Institute's Dimension Stone Design Manual advises that a stone should never be selected on the basis of a single sample, which is why we photograph your finished piece before it ships rather than relying on a catalogue image.
Do I pay customs duty when the sink arrives?
No. Shipments move under DDP (Delivered Duty Paid), so duties and customs clearance are settled before dispatch and nothing is owed on delivery. The United States was Türkiye's largest natural stone export market in 2025 at $461.96 million, so the customs route is a well-established one.
