The Pavilion before the mosaics were installed.
Installation in progress on the back wall.
Hackney Downs
The mosaics are in the shelter in the children's playground. They show wild animals, most of which are often found on Roman mosaics. The exception is the Okapi. a retiring animal from the forests of the Congo, whose existence was only confirmed to europeans in 1901.
The mosaics made in our workshop in Hackney Downs Pavilion using the indirect method. The design is drawn out on brown paper in reverse and the mosaics stuck down to the paper with a water soluble glue. The mosaic materials used are glass and ceramic tesserae which are hard wearing, impervious to paint and frost proof. They are cut and shaped with tile nippers and wheeled glass cutters.
The mosaic is divided up into sections as we work and carefully numbered and labelled. When the whole mosaic is completed the paper faced sections are transported to the shelter round the corner and reassembled, bedded into a cement based tiling adhesive applied to the wall and then grouted. The fixing is carried out by our professional and experienced mosaic fixer, Walter Bernardin.
On the 24 of May 2014 Walter began by fixing the first wall of the mosaic (back wall) and the whole was finally finished at the end of October.
