One might imagine mosaic designs as Byzantine, reserved for naves, or even childlike, but as The New York Times reports, tile mosaics, especially those employing glass tile, are experiencing a kind of renaissance as designers are leveling up the art form with fresh uses, funky personalizations and bold color.
With the current maximalist insurgency in the design world, with the entirely welcome return of color and pattern and idiosyncratic interiors, elaborate tile installations may soon follow wallpaper as an old-fashioned adornment updated and rediscovered.
Eran Chen, the founder and executive director of the architectural firm ODA New York, tells the Times he is a fan of glass tile because of its vibrancy.
“It has a combination of playfulness, color, light, but it’s still a natural material. That’s rare.”
Chen adds glass tile has also become more affordable and more customizable pointing to computer programs which allow for image transfers—a favorite postcard, a painting, a photo of your cat—onto a custom mosaic.
Companies like 62-year-old New Ravenna, whose chief executive Piero Bisazza tells the Times the company has never wavered in its love of bold color and pattern.
“You do not change your identity because fashion goes one direction or another. We enjoy decoration, there’s no denying it.”
After a decade of subtle, mid-century modern designs dominating the field of interior design, Bisazza says the pendulum is swinging back to rich interiors.
Read The New York Times article in its entirely here.
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