Valentina Expressions

In Mesopotamia, around 4000 years ago, tiny pieces of stones, ceramic, pebbles, shells, and glass were shaped and reduced in the most beautiful mosaics. Creating mosaics became a form of art intended to decorate patrician palaces, Christian basilicas, synagogues, and mosques, often using gold, lapis lazuli and other precious stones. Standing in front of mosaic works I have the impression of having a glimpse into the life of ancient people, it’s like watching slides of a trip into civilization. They tell us how those people lived, how they decorated their homes, what they ate and what they planted. Mosaics tells us about ancient rituals, the God they venerated, the architecture they built, tools used in everyday life, how they dressed and their customs. It is a fantastic way to learn history.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

Mosaic wall. The photo was taken by Valentina in a tile showroom.

Tesseræ are the tiny pieces assembled into a design and I am still wondering where those ancient people picked up this art, certainly not in any school. Mosaic art spread from the ancient Roman Empire extending to Africa, Syria and the Middle East provinces, to Greece, Byzantine people, the Easter ancient Europe and even to Russia, as the art for the wealthiest up until the modern 1900s.

Seatings at Park Güell

Catalan Architect Antoni Gaudi introduced mosaics in most of his work. At Park Güell in Barcelona, I saw the most extravagant stone seats decorated with colorful tesseræ, irregular, but beautiful. That day was windy, the sun was warm and I let it caressed me, I was in awe, in the right place breathing art, enjoying Gaudi’s work and imagining how it would have been to work with a creative genius like him.

Alligator at Park Güell

Mosaics fell out of vogue for a while, prohibitive costs and long hours of installations discouraged people from having them in their home. Today they are not that expensive and come on a 12″ x 12″ mash ready to compose the entire design. It is not even difficult to make your own mosaic work. Design first the pattern you like with chalk or pencil, apply glue or bonding material on the design, apply stones, glass, or anything you like, and it’s done.

Mosaic Bath – Photo was taken by Valentina in a tile showroom

I covered the bathroom floor of one of my clients with this mandala mosaic from Spain.

Mandala from Spain

The boldness of mosaic work on the walls or on the floor will make the décor and nothing else will be needed. Personalization is the keyword. I am thinking of all the white homes I see around and in magazines, if they had some colorful mosaics, they would be less flat, common and…boring… 🙄 just saying.

For the love of colors, allow me a little shameless promotion of my latest book on the subject of colors: ©Red – A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition. On Amazon.

Red-A Voyage Into Colors-Second Edition

Ciao,
Valentina 

Copyright © 2020 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a storyteller by nature. Stories are very important to her design career to convey ideas because making someone’s home or personal images is not only about building around shapes, lines, forms, and colors. It is about the story one can create around their spaces and how they want to appear to others. It’s about life experiences and how Valentina can incorporate them in her clients’ homes. She is the author of five books, all available on
Amazon – Barnes&Nobles