All posts filed under: Mosaics around the world

A stroll through Paris

On my way to Berlin I stopped over in Paris to finally see our grandson Lukas. He lives with his parents downtown near the Bastille and so I walked through the narrow streets around there with the stroller. Lifting my head up, I often noted small icons made of mosaic. The small figures they depict often resemble the creatures of early computer games adding modernity to the medieval beauty of the city centre. They are small often just discovered by a quick gaze up a building making you smile as they are colourful and cute. A couple of weeks later this beautiful mosaic at the entrance of the SoHo house in Paris tumbled into my inbox. I so much appreciate friends sending me their mosaic discoveries. Austin wrote about his impression of the mosaic: “cool minimalist, gestural mosaic – I think it is a super lovely piece”  

Mosaic Discovery in Berlin

Last year on a beautiful blue sky summer day I walked from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Spittelmarkt – always along the Spree and later the Spree Kanal. It’s a wonderful walk that I could recommend every visitor of this vibrant city. I was stepping through a lot of history of this city and my own life. Without intentionally looking for them I saw several mosaics on the way. On Bertold-Brecht- Platz stands a typical Berlin late 1900 multi story building which houses the famous restaurant “Ganymed” . Above the entrance door with the restaurants name (also a mosaic) you find in an imaginary niche another small beautiful mosaic. The mosaic was installed in 1892/93 to attract visitors to the theater “Berliner Ensemble” . Only in 1997 it was discovered again. The workshop “ wandwerk” restored this mosaic to its full beauty. Walking on along the Spree Canal my glance gets attracted by a huge mural on the Friedrichsgracht 58. It’s the mural “ Man, measure of all things” by Walter Womacka, who has designed this epic …

Labyrinth by Kate Kerrigan

This mosaic shows very well how mosaic is a medium between sculpture and painting. Here its more sculpture because the artist worked with just one color -white – using different heights to make certain lines more visible.I also admire her use of the classical technique – using merely square and trapezoids to show the flow of the paths in this labyrinth mosaic.