Floor Mosaics
A completely bespoke solution for you, offering beauty and durability combined
A floor mosaic is the ultimate in luxury floors with a pedigree stretching back over two thousand years
From the range of materials to the ancient traditional craft skills, here I reveal to you how floor mosaics are made and why this ancient architectural art form can offer you bespoke beauty combined with hardwearing durability.
In the footsteps of roman emperors
Developed from what was a simple decorative way of reinforcing mud floors by the 4th century BC floor mosaics were already beautiful and sophisticated. Look at this beautiful Lion Hunt mosaic from Macedonia created from carefully selected pebbles.
The blossoming of Greek culture developed the mosaic art form into high art with it's own carefully developed rules and aesthetic. And with the eventual dominance of the Roman Empire the art of mosaic was adopted and spread across the Empire. Mosaic floors carried the story of Roman culture from the grand homes of the wealthy to the simple shop floors and the bathhouses for all.
The story goes that Julius Caesar even had mosaic floors in his tent that he had transported with him.
Today, two thousand years later we can still see these great Roman mosaic floors all across the former Empire. In Britain alone thousands of stunning floors have been discovered, still telling their story.
A hand made mosaic floor completely unique to you...
Selecting the best materials
Marble + Stone
The most ancient mosaic material marbles and travertines are still used to create mosaic floors. The natural beauty of the stone with it's muted colour palette and variation of surface make this the classic choice.
Marble floors can be finished plain or brought up to a high mirror polish but are best suited for interior floors.
We still cut the marble tesserae with the traditional hammer and hardie, the technique that is unchanged from the ancient world.
Unglazed Porcelain
This high quality French Unglazed Porcelain is perhaps the ultimate floor mosaic material. The colour range is good with a very harmonious palate well suited to match other building materials.
Most importantly is the materials toughness. It is extremely durable, colourfast, frost and slip resistant.
Here in the studio we love working with it and the majority of floor mosaics we create are made with this material. I use it generally in 10mm x 20mm pieces which give the mosaic a very linear and flowing feeling adding movement to the mosaic.
Making your mosaic
You can rest assured when commissioning me to create your floor mosaic because I have dedicated more than thirty years to my craft. Creating such unique and completely hand made work of art is a big undertaking – Every tesserae is individually hand cut to shape and placed with careful attention to detail. In this section I will show you how this all comes together.
To begin with every floor mosaic is made off site in my studio. This has a number of advantages for your project. Making your mosaic off site means:–
- Minimum disruption to your site and your project timetable.
- Your mosaic can be made well in advance and installed at the right point in your schedule.
- You can inspect the mosaic both during the construction and when it's complete before you give the final go ahead for installation.
Once we have agreed your preferred design work on your mosaic can begin.
Laying the tesserae
Each piece of mosaic (tessera) is cut to shape and then glued face down onto the cartoon building the mosaic up piece by piece
section cutting
As the mosaic grows it is cut into sections. By doing this there is no limit to the size of mosaic we can create in the studio.
Final Layout
Once the mosaic is complete it is laid out in full. This is often the first time we have seen the mosaic as a whole.
At this stage the whole thing is double checked and any last minute adjustments are made.
You, as the client are also welcomed to visit and view the full mosaic before it is installed for extra reassurance that the mosaic is just what you wanted.
In fact I pride myself in trying to exceed expectations at every stage of the project.
Next the mosaic sections are packed into our special bespoke boxes to ensure maximum protection. Then the boxes are crated and shipped to the site.
making sure your mosaic has the same attention to detail from the drawing board to the final polish
Mosaic Installation
When you have spent so much time and money on creating an amazing mosaic floor you want to be sure that it's installation quality matches the build. We pride ourselves on having an installation service that is second to none and that's because of these 4 simple facts:–
- It's the same craftsmen that made your mosaic who are installing it.
- We love our work and put the same level of dedication and attention to detail into the fixing as we have making.
- If something should go wrong we are the best people to put it right.
- The liability for the successful completion of the mosaic lays with us until the very end.
Our centuries old craft of mosaic making is brought into the 21st century with the application of modern cement adhesives technology.
We can match our installation products to your project specification to maximise methods and warranties including polymer cements, epoxies, and grout matching.
As you would expect, our installation service comes with all the supporting method statements, Health & Safety requirements and specification details you need.
Some of our previous floor mosaics
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