Mosaic: A picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass.
From the first search I did for MCM furniture and design, oh... almost 10 years ago now, I still remember thinking about how cool this one particular amoeba table with mosaic was. While that table is long gone, my interest in mosaics still lives on. If our schedule ever cools down, we'd (my wife and I) like to do a couple of mosaic projects together. Still, I often wonder, what happened to this wonderful artistic aspect of the mid-century era gone by?
In all my research, I have yet to find mas production mid-century modern furniture that was tiled or that was finished in mosaic. I'm not saying that they don't exist. If they do, pleas lead me to them. I'd really like to learn more about this particular aspect of mid-centutry furniture.
Still, it seems that mosaics played a large character role in the art scene of the mid-century eras. Buildings held large mosaic murals on the outside, or in the lobby. Many parks had mosaics on the walkways or in the promenades, many pieces of furniture even carried mosaic tops or boarders, and even production
mosaic wall art*
was produced for the home or office.
These pieces weren't just pieces of ceramic or glass put together. They were real images a lot of the time. Whether it was an abstract design, a bull/bull fighter combo, still life of fruit/bottles, or a peacock, these pieces had character.
One thing that I can say for sure, is that mid-century design today has not forgotten completely about the mosaic tile trend. Many a refurb of a mid-century home is, and has, used tile mosaic in the shower or bathroom. Unfortunately, that's as far as it seems to go though.
So, what happened to the attraction of mosaics? Is it that tile is too expensive? Too hard to clean? To hard to creat? Lack of imagination? I really don't know. No matter what the reason, it's clear that mosaics are not nearly as popular for the mid-century styling as it once was.
In the effort of encouraging at least one person to take on a mid-century styled project, I'm adding photos below of some very cool mid-century/mid-century styled mosaics. Don't worry, I'm not leaving it all to you, I'm going to try and take on one too. I already have a mirror frame planed with my wife. So, go get some
mosaic materials*
, start designing, and get to making a new mid-century styled mosaic piece. Why leave all the creativity to the masters of the past? Just remember, they would have never become masters without starting as novice.
If you are interested in mid-century books on the subject, I suggest that you look at some of the following.
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