Vermont Soapstone was founded in 1856 by a family in the town of Perkinsville. When the business went up for sale 139 years later, Glen Bowman grabbed it (though it meant giving up his family’s Nantucket hotel business). He has since watched his company grow to 25 employees as soapstone has evolved from a quotidian material into a sophisticated option for countertops, shower tiles and flooring. Quarried like granite and marble, soapstone is primarily dark gray in color and, because of its talc composition, has naturally white veining from its quartz content. (It’s also softer and more vulnerable to scratches, so specifiy carefully.) (via Elements of Living)