Ephemeral Waves, a new collaboration for Friul Mosaic and Marco Gallotta
Friul Mosaic continues its collaboration with Marco Gallotta, an artist of Italian origin who has been working in New York for almost 25 years, a city from which he draws strong inspiration for his works that originate from paper-cutting, drawing, painting and printing techniques, for which he is recognized throughout the world.
The artist’s collaboration with the artisan company, a true icon of contemporary mosaic art, began in 2022 and is renewed this year with the creation of Ephemeral Waves, a mosaic artwork that stands out for its play of contrasts to evoke the fluid and transitory nature of water. The work was presented at the Monaco Yacht Show 2024, an event of excellence for the world of luxury, which showcases the best of the nautical industry and its excellence.
The project uses cutouts and negative spaces strategically to create a sense of movement and lightness, mirroring the way water shapes and takes shape from the environment in which it flows. The work recreates both a visual and emotional representation of the aquatic element from which life originates and manages to capture its essence through the skillful use of space, light, color and movement.
Created in collaboration with the artisans of Friul Mosaic, this work of art uses precious handmade Venetian enamels, positioned on a metal base, to give life to a mosaic that with its visual strength recalls an emotional experience. Ephemeral Waves merges Gallotta’s artistic sensibility with the Friulian artisan tradition, creating a harmonious dialogue between innovation and craftsmanship.
Luisa Bocchietto for Friul Mosaic: how the “Tessere” project was born and lives
The collection refers to the fundamental element of every mosaic, namely the tesserae, 10 mm thick, hand-cut with a hammer by craftsmen and arranged to form compositions that are always unique and unrepeatable.
TESSERE is the title of the Collection created by Luisa Bocchietto for Friul Mosaic, whose name corresponds both to a process, namely weaving, and to the final product, made up of the tesserae of a new mosaic. The project starts from the idea of exploring the traditional world of weaving through the history of Biella entrepreneurship, an area in which an important production of excellence has developed and the territory from which the designer comes.
Tradition becomes a common ground through which to compare two productions of excellence, fabric and mosaic, which start from artisan mastery, from manual skills applied to production, from experience handed down over time; elements that today translate into products that are only partially industrializable, but contemporary and full of charm. Bocchietto did not want to start from the image of the fabric, as we see it reproduced in many decorative surface declinations, but rather to delve deeply into the process of fabric construction to better understand its formal composition.
Inspired by the art of weaving, an expression of craftsmanship and creativity, TESSERE is particularly representative for FRIUL MOSAIC because it maintains its artisanal and unique characteristics, and is able to convey new suggestions that come not from the use of formal patterns but from the application of sedimented processes that have a deeper reason to exist. The collection refers to the fundamental element of every mosaic, namely the tesserae, 10 mm thick, hand-cut with a hammer by craftsmen and arranged in such a way as to form compositions that are always unique and unrepeatable. The final product becomes a competitive and contemporary solution, which encompasses aesthetic quality at an accessible cost in the different versions for large spaces and for smaller-scale spaces.
Friul Mosaic presents two works at the Monaco Yacht Show 2024
Friul Mosaic, or bespoke mosaic artisans, as they prefer to call themselves. In reality, they are an icon of contemporary mosaic art and, from 25 to 28 September 2024, the Friulian company will be a protagonist at the prestigious Monaco Yacht Show at stand PP61 (Parvis Piscine). The event, a showcase of excellence for the world of luxury, showcases the best of the nautical industry and its excellence. Friul Mosaic, with its skillful combination of tradition and innovation, will present two extraordinary mosaic works by artists Marco Gallotta and Theo Vanderzalm.
Monaco Yacht Show, an exclusive stage rewards the Italian experience
The Monaco Yacht Show is not just a fair dedicated to yachts, but an exclusive stage that celebrates design, innovation and luxury craftsmanship. This event brings together the most important players in the sector every year, offering a unique platform to share new ideas and cutting-edge projects. Friul Mosaic will have the honor of unveiling its works to an international audience, confirming once again its leadership in the art of mosaic.
Marco Gallotta for Friul Mosaic
“Ephemeral Waves” by Marco Gallotta Italian-born, New York-based artist Marco Gallotta presents “Ephemeral Waves,” a mosaic work that captures the fluid and ever-changing essence of water. Through a clever play of positive and negative spaces, Gallotta creates a mosaic that evokes the natural movement of water, masterfully using light and color to reflect the ever-changing environment.
Created in collaboration with the artisans of Friul Mosaic, this work of art uses precious, hand-made Venetian enamels, positioned on a metal base, to create a mosaic that is not only a visual representation, but also an emotional experience. “Onde Effimere” fuses Gallotta’s artistic sensibility with the Friulian artisan tradition, creating a harmonious dialogue between innovation and craftsmanship.
Friul Mosaic and the collaboration with Theo Vanderzalm
The artist Theo Vanderzalm, originally from Australia and living in London, presents the work “Sedimentary”, a mosaic that explores the depths of the earth through a unique mix of advanced technologies and ancient artisanal techniques. The work, created in 2023, takes inspiration from images generated by artificial intelligence that represent the sedimentary layers of the soil, subsequently translated into mosaic thanks to the extraordinary skill of the artisans of Friul Mosaic. For this work, marble, stone, glass and precious Brazilian quartz were used, creating a stratification that evolves from a smooth finish to a rougher texture, revealing the authentic beauty of the material. The result of this collaboration is a work that expresses the three-dimensionality of deep matter, starting from a graphic matrix generated by the extraction of computer data, translated and interpreted by the hand of man in a unique mosaic work. “Sedimentary” is a reflection on the harmony between technological innovation and artistic tradition.
Friul Mosaic: tradition and cutting-edge innovation
Founded in 1987, Friul Mosaic represents the perfect balance between tradition and innovation in the mosaic art scene. The company, based in San Martino al Tagliamento, stands out for the extremely high quality of its creations, handcrafted by expert craftsmen from the famous Friuli Mosaic School in Spilimbergo. Each mosaic is a unique creation, the result of intense collaboration with customers, who are involved in every phase of the creative process, from design to final installation.
Mosaic in interior design
With an eye always turned to the future, Friul Mosaic continues to explore new expressive possibilities for artistic mosaic, while keeping its roots firmly in tradition. Present in the most prestigious interior design and luxury architecture projects, the company establishes itself as a point of reference for those seeking works of extraordinary beauty and artistic value. Friul Mosaic’s participation in the Monaco Yacht Show 2024 at stand PP61 (Parvis Piscine) is an unmissable opportunity to discover these extraordinary works, a perfect synthesis of craftsmanship and creativity, capable of enriching every environment with elegance and refinement.
Éclats, splinters and flashes of art
«Éclats is a French name with two meanings: on the one hand, splinter, the fragment of glass that makes up the image; on the other, flash, or the brilliance of the texture that makes up the mosaic». The architect and designer Fabio Ferrillo Belli thus highlighted what led him to choose Éclats as the name of his new collection for the company and custom mosaic laboratory Friul Mosaic, a project truly capable of transmitting the profound meaning of a mosaic: not a simple set of tiles, but a true amalgam of fantasy, creativity, passion, technique, material and taste.
The contents of this series of mosaic art are in fact current, enhanced by an iconographic, technical and chromatic language that is absolutely contemporary, modern, experimental. This collection was conceived «around three evocative, contemporary and original themes – underlined Ferrillo Belli –, nine subjects, 27 variations and infinite possibilities. Each theme has been conceived in two different declinations and can be intended for the contract, wellness and residential worlds.
The first declination is two-dimensional, more traditional, linked to the support; the second more contemporary, innovative and three-dimensional, in which some details of the subject come to life by detaching themselves from the wall”. The protagonist, then, is the color, thanks to a palette of Venetian enamels chosen and created specifically for Éclats: each pattern can be declined in the full range of shades but, at the same time, also in black and white.
The themes of ÈCLATS
Flying Creatures, Tropical Jungle and Tribute to Milan are the three themes of Éclats developed by Fabio Ferrillo Belli for this new collection of Friul Mosaic. Flying creatures have always fascinated the designer by virtue of their lightness, fragility but also the particularity of their wings. The latter are «perfect structures – is Ferrillo Belli’s description – yet geometrically almost casual, unrepeatable, composed of tiny differences, which speak the same language as the mosaics of Friul Mosaic and the hands of the artisans who compose them». The iconographic power of the plant world, in particular of the tropical jungle, lies in its connected symbolic contents evocative of the same intricate structure of the leaves: this, in turn, refers to the deepest essence of nature, elusive, powerful and at the same time to the fragility of the ecosystem that populates it.
Finally, the tribute to Milan: «A tribute to the city, to some of its most representative architectures because – added the designer – I believe they deeply express its identity, collect its contents and return them, through the time of history, in an orderly, clear, representative way, as if they wanted to talk about those who, by choice or by chance, built, family after family, that society that makes the city so incredibly alive».
Experimentation, eco-sustainability and customization
The values of experimentation, eco-sustainability and customization were placed at the base of the collaboration between Friul Mosaic and Ferrillo Belli, therefore also the valorization of the artistic and artisanal skills of the artists. The experimental vein with which we approached the creation of Éclats has therefore led to compositions that are true works of art, scenographic backdrops and precious flexible coverings, so much so that they can be suitable for sophisticated environments of hotels, restaurants or spas, but also for more private areas of yachts or homes: the shards of precious colored enamels, collected in panels and special supports, detach from the wall, reaching new locations. In keeping with the sustainable philosophy shared by the company and the designer, the collection can be considered completely eco-sustainable: the colored fragments are obtained from recycled glass which, combined with natural pigments, undergo a low-temperature sintering process, free of emissions into the atmosphere and toxic substances. The supports are made of recycled or completely recyclable materials, such as aluminum and innovative plant fibers, and even the installation materials are completely eco-friendly.
Tiles by Friul Mosaic
Waiting, Trace and Beginning. These are the names of the new versions of Tessere, the Friul Mosaic collection, the result of the design and experience of Luisa Bocchietto.
The three new mosaic compositions complete the collection that already included Prodigio, Viaggio and Fermento. Mosaic art joins the ancient textile art in a collection of surfaces that are handcrafted from every point of view. TESSERE is the name inspired both by the activity of tessere precisely, and by the final product, made up of the tiles of a new mosaic.
The result of an in-depth study of fabrics and textures in their construction and formal composition, TESSERE is inspired by the art of weaving and refers to the history of Biella entrepreneurship, an area in which an important production of excellence has developed and the city of origin of the designer. It draws inspiration from the values of craftsmanship and pure creativity.
TESSERE is particularly representative for FRIUL MOSAIC also because it refers to the fundamental element of every mosaic, namely the tesserae, 10 mm thick and hand-cut with a hammer by expert craftsmen.
