Hundreds of varieties: how to get down to three in three steps
Do not start from the variety. Start from where the stone goes. Step one, fix the location. Step two, fix the colour family. Step three, ask about availability. Three steps turn hundreds into three or five, then samples settle the shade.
Step one: where will it be used?
Exterior paving is about slip resistance and freeze-thaw. Exterior cladding is about water absorption and colour control. Interior worktops are about stain and acid resistance. Fix the location and half the catalogue removes itself. This is the fastest step and the one most often skipped.
Step two: choose a colour family, not a variety.
A buyer saying grey is more precise than a buyer saying Sesame Grey. Settle the family, then choose grain size and depth within it. Lock onto one variety first and you have no alternative when it is out of stock or the shade drifts.
Step three: ask about availability, not price.
Three questions: is this a variety you run regularly, is there material now, can you hold one quarry for one batch? A variety a factory runs routinely gives more predictable lead times and colour. Ask price first and all you get is a set of incomparable numbers.
Why is choosing from photographs unreliable?
Stone is natural, and the same slab photographs differently under different light and on different phones. Photographs filter colour families; they cannot fix a shade. Fixing a shade requires physical material.
Last step: ask for three samples, not one.
Three pieces of the same variety show the depth range of a batch rather than the prettiest piece. Confirm you can live with that range before discussing quantity and delivery. Order against a single sample and a colour argument later is almost guaranteed.