For agate, quartz and amethyst, a soft damp cloth and a dry one afterwards is the whole method. Marble needs a little more care because it is softer and reacts to acid. The metal edge needs nothing at all beyond being kept dry. Nothing we make should ever go in the dishwasher.
That is the short version. The rest of this is why, and what to do when something has already gone wrong.
Everyday cleaning
Wipe with a soft cloth, damp with plain water, then dry it properly with a second cloth. Most pieces will never need anything else. Dust does not stick to polished stone the way it sticks to a matt surface, so a dry cloth is usually enough between proper cleans.
If something greasy has been on it, a single drop of ordinary washing-up liquid in a bowl of warm water is safe on the stone. Wring the cloth out well. The thing to avoid is water sitting in the join between stone and metal, so dry that line first and dry it thoroughly.
What to keep away from it
- The dishwasher. Heat, pressure and detergent together are harder on a stone piece than years of ordinary use.
- Abrasives. Scouring pads, cream cleaners and powders will scratch the polish. On stone the polish is not a coating you can put back at home.
- Bleach and bathroom cleaners. These are alkaline or acidic and neither belongs near natural stone or an electroformed edge.
- Acids on marble. Lemon, vinegar, wine, tomato and cola will etch marble where they sit, leaving a dull mark that is not dirt and will not wipe off.
- Soaking. No piece needs to be submerged, and none should be.
Marble is the exception
Marble is calcium carbonate and sits at about three on the Mohs hardness scale, where agate and quartz sit at seven. It is softer, it marks more easily, and it reacts to acid. In practice that means wiping a spill off marble straight away rather than at the end of the evening, and it means not using a marble piece as the surface you cut a lime on.
The difference in the material is explained in more detail in how to tell agate, quartz, amethyst and marble apart.
The metal edge
The metal around our stone pieces is electroformed, which means real metal grown onto the stone and bonded to it, not a coating sitting on top. It does not chip or peel, so it needs no maintenance. Two habits keep it looking new: dry it after any cleaning rather than letting it air-dry, and keep household chemicals away from it. Perfume and hand sanitiser count as household chemicals here.
Antique brass and antique copper finishes are meant to be uneven in tone. That is the finish, not wear.
Brass plaques and name plates
These are the one range that wants a dry cloth and nothing else. Do not use metal polish and do not use a scouring pad. The blackened ground behind the raised lettering is meant to stay dark, and polish lifts it, which flattens the contrast that makes the name readable from across a room.
Cooking brass and decorative brass are not the same problem, and the tamarind and salt method most of us grew up with belongs to the first. There is a fuller explanation in how to clean brass at home.
Coasters, trays and anything that meets a drink
Condensation is the only real nuisance. A cold glass leaves a ring of water on a coaster, and in a hard-water city that water dries to a chalky mark of its own. It cannot get under the metal edge, because the edge is bonded to the stone rather than stuck onto it, but the mark on the surface is real enough. Tip the water off and wipe the coaster when you clear the glasses, and the question never comes up.
Let a hot dish cool for a minute before it goes onto a stone surface. Stone handles heat well but not sudden heat, and there is no reason to test it.
Outdoor and semi-outdoor pieces
Plaques and name plates are UV-protected and weather-treated after finishing, so a covered verandah or a porch wall is fine. They hold their colour in direct sun and through the monsoon. They are not made for a fully exposed wall with nothing overhead, and no finish is.
When something has already gone wrong
A dull patch on marble is an etch, not a stain, and it is a change in the surface rather than something sitting on it. A marble polishing powder from a hardware shop will improve it. Anything stronger is likely to make it worse.
A chip in stone cannot be repaired invisibly at home. If a piece arrives damaged, write to us within 24 hours of delivery with your order number and photographs and we will sort it out. The return and refund policy has the detail.
Putting festive pieces away
Stone against stone chips, so wrap each piece separately rather than stacking diya holders, coasters or trays loose in one box. Clean and dry them before they go away rather than after they come out, because a mark left on for eleven months is harder to shift than one left on for an evening. Keep the box somewhere dry.
The FAQs answer the shorter care questions, and the pooja and festive range is the one this matters most for.