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MY MOSAIC JOURNEYSome time in 2000, two of my friends booked a mosaic course for themselves with a local artist. When one of them could not attend, and the deposit was non refundable, my other friend decided to pounce on me. I was very un My "hobby" (as my skeptical husband still refers to it) started in 2000 in a spare room of our home in Cape Town with a few tiles, a pair of nippers and lots of enthusiasm. At times the work spilled over into the dining room and the dining table became a no go area for weeks on end. The projects got bigger and more involved until, finally, my family demanded that I get proper premises. I moved into a large studio and the fit was good. I felt comfortable and things grew from there. Mosaic Workshop now have a team of full time staff and freelance artists that do work for us from time to time. WHY MOSAIC YOU ASK Mosaic is most definitely one of the most durable forms of art. It is also, in some form or other, one of the most widely practiced around the globe. This trend has prevailed throughout the ages and some documented pieces date back to the 4th century and earlier. In ancient times, it was not unheard of for craftsmen to spend years on a single project. In those days, mosaic was considered a status symbol and the rich employed teams of "imaginarius" to cover walls, floors and walkways. The mosaic designers were said to be amongst the most richly paid of all men employed at that time. Mosaic has enjoyed a renewed upswing in popularity towards the middle of the 20th century. Today, we do not take as long and are not as highly paid, but then things are a lot easier. We have the ease of nippers, ready mixed grouts and cements, adhesives and not to mention mesh! We don't need to spend years on site to do a mural and tiles are readily available. Despite all this progress, mosaic is, and always will be, the one art form that cannot be produced by a machine and therefore, there will always be a place for the skilled mosaicist.
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willing and protested all the way there. My knowledge of mosaic was of round cement garden tables done in large pieces of white, pink, blue or yellow (and sometimes all of them together) bathroom tiles. These always had large cement grout lines and seem to be everywhere. I hated them. So, understandably, I was unhappy. Once I got there and saw some of the little glass tiles, I was sort of interested and a little curious. But once I started cutting stuff and "puzzled" a few tiles together, I was hooked. Like with so many new hobbies, I went out and bought the whole bang chute and played "mosaic" every spare moment. I read everything I could lay my hands on and visited more than a few tile shops. I scrounged old crockery from friends and all broken items were hoarded until I excitedly carted them away to my little mosaic nest. One supplier took pity on me and gave me some kind words and a lot of encouragement. I have not looked back since.
