mosaic tesserae Donà Mosaics Murano Venice

mosaic tesserae mosaic italian tesserae produced in venice murano glass

Mosaici Donà creates glass mosaic tesserae 

There are two key points to consider in the style of mosaic: the laying style and the mosaic tesserae size.

Mosaic Tesserae

The traditional name given to the tile building blocks of mosaic.

The tesserae size refers to the basic building block in a mosaic, in other words how small are the tiles cut.

Modern Mosaic - The normal base tile is 20mm (3/4") square. This is good for mosaics in excess of 9m2 (100 square feet).

Byzantine Mosaic - The next size is the Byzantine Cut - half tile - 20mm x 10mm (3/4"x3/8") This is the cut of the Venetian Smalti with fine movement and expressive flow.

Roman Mosaic - 10mm x 10mm (3/8" x 3/8") These small square tesserae with their hand cut irregularities give that typical Roman feel.

Micro Mosaic - 5mm x 5mm (3/16" x 3/16") and less. Tiny mosaic tesserae for small and finely detailed work.

Obviously there is a direct correlation between the complexity of the design, the size of the tesserae and the cost of the final work.

The laying styles of mosaic tesserae

Traditionally the manner in which the mosaic tesserae are placed together have been given style names known as the Andamento. On large projects where many mosaicists are working on one piece this enables a set style to be laid down by the designer this enables the designer to specify the type of construction without the need for excessively detailed design. These styles are the essence of mosaic, its about lines of tesserae, pattern and flow. There are many different styles these are the main ones.

Mosaici Donà offers a wide variety of glass mosaic tile blends, made to order within a 1-2 week lead time.