4th March 2025 | IN EXPERT INSIGHT | BY SBID Share Tweet Pinterest LinkedIn Becca Cranfield, Director of Athena Stonecare, has given her insights into the industry. Athena Stonecare Athena Stonecare What are the origins of the brand? Athena Stonecare is a family run business headed up by myself and my husband Dave Cranfield. The Company was Founded by Dave in 2012 and is now firmly established as one of the leading stone restoration providers in the UK partnering with Mandrin Stone, Fired Earth and Artisans of Devizes to provide ongoing stone maintenance services. I joined the business in 2018 and originally took on a hybrid role as a second pair of hands on site while growing the business. I’m now more likely to be found networking, giving talks and managing client relationships. Dave leads a team of 4 on site and still carries out every site visit and sample. Athena Stonecare How do your products and services enhance interior design projects? The focus of our services is all about returning it to its original condition. It could be that a client is having a kitchen refit and wants to keep their existing stone floor. Or a new section of stone is being added to the property in an extension and the older stone needs to be refinished to match. It might even be as simple as the stone needing a refresh after a renovation project is complete. Occasionally we are even called in to rectify damage caused during a build, or an installation issue. Our goal is simply to help you to make sure that natural stone is a feature of your projects. Athena Stonecare What value does your specialist sector add to the industry? Outside of the services that we provide, we are passionate about providing guidance on how to care for stone. Our Athena Aftercare guide was developed in 2022 in response to requests for advice on how to keep the stone surfaces we restored looking as good as when we left. This is now distributed by stone suppliers and fabricators and is available for anyone who specifies or installs stone. Knowing how to care for stone is essential as soon as it is installed – and it’s not difficult if you know how. Stone is durable and so the only way to ensure its timelessness is by looking after it from day one. Athena Stonecare How do you work with interior designers? As well as providing restoration services for projects with existing stone surfaces, we are also always on hand to offer advice. Being the people that see the stone in situ – and so often with avoidable issues – we are well placed to give an independent review. Our expertise are often called upon when selecting stone to comment on the suitability and note any specific care that the stone might need. We are always happy to review photos of stains, cracks and marks too and advise on the restorability. We want to make sure that anyone who chooses to use natural stone can enjoy it forever, whether they embrace the patina that develops over time or invest in professional maintenance to see it elegantly endure. Athena Stonecare What has been your most significant company highlight or success from the past year? Achieving our SBID accreditation! This is a significant step in our journey as it shows that the industry is keen to learn more about natural stone. We are hopeful that the guidance we provide can help Interior Designers to make more informed choices when using natural stone. It is the most bespoke material that you could work with and so misunderstood. We are hoping that we can change that narrative and help more Designers to specify stone in their projects. Athena Stonecare What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests? We have seen an increase in clients wanting to change the finish of their stone – from polished to honed or vice versa. This could be due to the tile only being available in a certain finish, or simply because the customer has changed their mind. This is one of the cool things about stone that lots of people don’t realise. You can change the finish at any point. This is common with worktops as a honed finish can be seen as a little more practical. Although it’s not actually more hard wearing, a matte/velvet finish will show scratches and marks a lot less obviously and make it a popular choice. Athena Stonecare Athena Stonecare How do you see the interior design industry evolving in the year ahead? There is a huge focus on sustainability and quite rightly so. This is moving away from just looking at the carbon footprint or embodied carbon but also considering how to make a design timeless. Stone fits in well to this ethos. Not only does is outperform its counterparts in many measures of sustainability but it is also durable and restorable. Most importantly, it never goes out of fashion. A limestone floor will look as good with today’s pantone of the year as it does with next years. Athena Stonecare Is there anything new you are excited to be working on? We’ve always got lots of projects on the go as our average job size is 2-3 days. This high turnaround always keeps us on our toes. Intermingled with this, is a few large projects and some historic and prestigious properties that we’ve submitted quotes for more recently. You’ll have to keep an eye on our socials to see how we get on! What does being an SBID Accredited Industry Partner mean to you? It’s a real honour and an opportunity for us to share out passion. We are looking forward to getting involved and meeting lots of members over the coming months. Becca Cranfield, Director of Athena Stonecare About Athena Stonecare Natural stone is an investment and we are committed to ensuring that its beauty endures. We specialise in working with marble, limestone, travertine, granite, and all types of natural stone, ensuring that stone will continue to be a beautifully sustainable feature within any property. As natural stone restoration experts we work with floors, worktops, shower walls, sinks and vanity units. The ongoing care of stone is important to us too and so we have developed a suite of advice and guidance on how to maintain the finish of any stone surface. This is distributed through stone suppliers across the UK and is also available to anyone who works with natural stone. Visit Profile If you’d like to feature your news or stories on SBID.org, get in touch to find out more. If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here for more information.