It's more literal in an architectural context. If something has enough historical baggage, like stone does, you have to be a bit of a heretic to do something interesting with it rather than a clich . It's interesting just to make it into something else. There can be a soft wetness in something that's carved. All the noses I've carved, by the way, are broken, like my own.
Broken noses are more interesting than perfect noses.
Less perfect stone is more interesting than perfect stone for me as well. As a found object ethic I couldn't conceive of buying a perfect square somewhere and paying for it by the pound. Nothing is more terrifying to me than a blank canvas or a perfect square. I've always taken the garbage away from quarries. Maybe it's an American thing to find junk and reconstitute it, recycle its meaning.