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| Photo by Tim Waters via flickr |
Bethan Ryder, The Daily Telegraph, May 28, 2015
Launched during Chelsea Flower Show, Bisazza's latest mosaic collection is based on three popular floral creations by Designers Guild.
The Chelsea Flower Show may be over, but the Bisazza showroom on Sloane Avenue is still a riot of beautifully appointed blooms, albeit florals in two-dimensional form. The newly installed panels are the result of a collaboration between the leading Italian glass mosaic company and British home ware brand Designers Guild. Bisazza's communications director Rossella Bisazza and CEO and founder of Designers Guild Tricia Guild have been friends for some time, “I’ve always admired Tricia’s designs,” says Bisazza, “and I felt they could be wonderfully translated into mosaic.”
The result is three designs, the darkly romantic and painterly Alexandria – which Bisazza proclaims “a masterpiece” – that stretches across six panels either horizontally or vertically; the graphic, more contemporary Charlottenberg, composed of a giant peony applied as a repeating motif or as one single bloom; and the simpler tone-on-tone Ardassa damask in two colourways: green and white.
Alexandria was the most complex to replicate. “It’s like a painting and was a big challenge,” explains Bisazza. “We tried to give it a softness, which is unusual in mosaic design because it’s quite a stiff and rigid product, but I think we’ve managed to create a faithful interpretation of the actual fabric”, which also happens to be a Designers Guild bestseller. The design has real depth; you can almost image the flowers moving in a breeze and the effect seems all the more remarkable when you learn it’s composed of just 15 different colours.
It’s the diverse nature of the designs that Guild is most proud of. “We wanted this mix; the non-floral damask, the graphic flower and soft flower. There are so many we could do and hopefully will do more. I think it shows a kind of different side of us and also of Bisazza.”
We ponder the spaces where the new florals would best thrive – a hotel lobby or atrium, around a pool, an entrance floor or feature wall – lending an indoor or outdoor space vitality and colour. As Guild points out, our perception of mosaic has changed over time. “Twenty years ago I think people thought of mosaic only in wet areas but Bisazza has changed that and now it is perceived as a beautiful medium of pattern that you can use anywhere.”
Bisazza concurs. “It’s decoration now; it’s no longer just a commodity you put in your bathroom. We’ve tried to make it more like it was during the Roman times, when instead of paintings there were mosaics,” she says. “My father founded the company in 1956 and from the Sixties onwards we gave nobility to this product. The turning point was when we started working with designers. Alessandro Mendini was the first one and he opened the doors for us. Every year we add new names – it’s very stimulating.”
As for Bisazza and Designers Guild, they may add to this debut collection in the future, but for the time being this is one flower show that won't lose its bloom.
This article was written by Bethan Ryder from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
