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.

The Lion Hunt Mosaic from Pella - 4th Century BC

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

Black and White Marble Floor

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.

Marble mosaic with hammer and hardie
19200_seagullmaking_x540

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.

Unglazed Porcelain Palette

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:–

Log crossing mosaic cartoon

Cartoon Painting

Once we have agreed your preferred design work on your mosaic can begin.

My first step is to paint a tonal version of your design at full scale and in mirror image onto Purekraft paper. This chiaroscuro painting is almost a work of art in itself.

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

Crab mosaic under construction
Elephant Seal mosaic division

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.

Mosaic packed for shipping

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:–

LPCH mosaic installation sections

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

Would you like to chat about your floor mosaic idea?

Contact me here and arrange your free 30 min consultation meeting
and get expert and immediate advice

Smashing tiles... just because I love it!

LPCH mosaic installation sections
Designing your mosaic
Gary Drostle at work
Crab mosaic under construction
Site meeting support

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