Specifying mosaic for your interior design projects
Your guide to getting the most from using bespoke mosaic works
Mosaic is an extremely versatile and creative medium that offers the designer the power of colour, texture, pattern, story and identity to your palette. This article is a guide for interior designers, architects and design professionals planning on using mosaic in your designs.
So we will look at the seven top questions designers have when considering using mosaic within an interior design scheme:–
- What is mosaic?
- What can mosaic add to benefit my clients?
- How can I use mosaic in my design scheme to add individuality and punch?
- Where can I find the right mosaic artist?
- How do I timetable a mosaic into my schedule and how much might it cost?
- What information do I need to tell my mosaic artist?
- And what can I expect from my mosaic artist?
What is mosaic?
Mosaic art has been used for thousands of years to bring unique identity to interiors. It’s origins date back to ancient Mesopotamia and grew as an art form through ancient Greece, reaching great heights during the Roman Empire. Still today we can see amazing examples of the luxury floors that decorated Roman villas across Europe. Other inspiring examples of mosaic art exist in Mesoamerican, Asian and Arab cultures. After the Roman era in Europe mosaic art flourished into the Byzantine period and again in the nineteenth century.
This highly skilled craft of cutting and placing small cubes of glass, marble or ceramic to form an overall design can give you a truly bespoke solution for the most discerning of clients.
What can mosaic add to benefit my clients?
When fully incorporated into an overall design scheme mosaic offers you a powerful medium to add to your design palette. By using mosaic in your interior design you can add qualities of:–
Beautiful Colours
Whether it’s classic marbles, rich glasses or glazed and unglazed ceramic the mosaic tesserae come in a wide range of colours to suit any design scheme. For the ultimate colour palette consider hand made Venetian Glass Smalti which has a vast colour range including pure golds and silvers..
Light and Texture
Often overlooked as a quality, light and texture play an important part in mosaic and can be manipulated by the mosaic artist to achieve many effects from the glass like polish of a marble floor to highly textured surfaces of offset and rough hewn tesserae.
Durability and Quality
The origins of mosaic are that of an architectural medium. Mosaics can be constructed for floors and walls, inside and out complying with all the rigours of impact, frost and slip resistance. The skill of the mosaic maker is evident in the resulting detail and quality of the cut and placement of the tesserae.
Pattern
At the core of mosaic making is pattern. Whether it is the simple repetition of the cube or complex patterns of Arabic Geometry.
Story and Identity
In addition to all the material qualities mosaic can deliver it also has the important ability to tell a story or convey an identity in its design. If your client has a particular identity or story they want to convey mosaic can solve that. Telling a story can range from a simple piece of text or a Coat of Arms to pictorial images and thematic references.
How can I use mosaic in my design scheme to add individuality and punch?
The exciting thing about using bespoke mosaic in your design proposal is it allows you to be completely creative. You can safely use mosaic on the floor, wall, ceiling or even across three dimensional surfaces and sculptural forms. Using mosaic in interior design will increase what you have to offer those clients who are looking for something completely unique.
If you work together with an experienced mosaic artist you can design the mosaic yourself, or simply give an indication and mood board for your mosaic artist to follow. Many mosaic artists will happily draw up two or three variant designs for you and your client to choose from.
Where can I find the right mosaic artist for my project?
Of course there are many other mosaic artists out there each with their own individual style and level of ability. Look around the internet for an artists whose work you like and you think will fit with your project (Instagram and Pinterest are great places to see the variety of work).
A good starting point for searching out other mosaic artists is to look at the National Associations in your country, here are a few of the main ones:–
When approaching a new mosaic artist here are a couple of questions you might like to ask:–
- Which materials and styles are you experienced working with?
- Can you show me some examples of your work at a similar scale and setting?
- Does your cost include installation?
- Can you deliver my project on the required timetable?
- Can you offer design options?
- Do you have the required insurance and health and safety procedures?
How do I timetable a mosaic into my schedule and how much might it cost?
Mosaic art is very labour intensive, this means the cost can be high and the timetable long, so early planning will help enormously.
Timetables
Whilst a small panel mosaic can be produced in a matter of weeks, large wall or floor mosaics can take months to complete. The average cycle for a project at Drostle Public Arts is three months but larger works can take much longer. It’s important therefore to contact your mosaic artist at the earliest stage. They can guide you in the expected timetable. Handmade mosaic is steady and slow work, this is what makes it special.
Budgets
Many hours of work and a high level of skill means that mosaic artworks are a high value item and should be treated as such. All hand made craftsmanship makes these works unique and expensive. A typical mosaic budget for Drostle Public Arts will be in the region of GBP 3000.00 per m2 though design complexity, material and location can add to the cost.
What information do I need to tell my mosaic artist?
The more information you can provide the mosaic maker the better. In order to get started its a good idea to provide the following information:–
- Dimensions of the proposed work
- A theme, mood board or written description of what you are looking for.
- An indication of the area where the mosaic will go including specific (floor, wall, pool, interior or exterior?) and general (area and country?)
And what can I expect from my mosaic artist?
Looking at your chosen mosaic artists previous work will give you a good indication of the quality of mosaic to expect. Although I, and I am sure most mosaic artists strive to always make the next work better.
You should also expect:–
- A clear quotation for your project along with an expected timetable
- Original designs unless you have commissioned designs that have clear copyright approval
- Fabrication of your mosaic using suitable materials and in an agreed style
- Installation of your mosaic in a professional manner with due regard to health and safety, the site, any other people on site.
Gary &
Drostle Public Arts
We have been creating unique and bespoke mosaic art for over thirty years. Our experience of creating mosaics large and small means that you can have confidence that your mosaic will be of the highest quality. We believe in working closely with our clients and other design professionals and contractors to ensure that the highest expectations are met and exceeded throughout the commissioning process.
