Trend has completed a commission for the creation and installation of floor mosaics for the celebrated Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Featuring Kusama’s trademark bright colours, bold patterns and polka dots, the floral mosaics have been laid by hand in the La Scène auditorium of the Louvre-Lens.
Trend was chosen to reproduce Kusama’s complex floor patterns with micro mosaic tiles from its 1 x 1cm collection. The tilemaker was also asked to create special fluorescent hues and colourful shades to match the original artwork. Trend was chosen for the project because of its environmental sustainability credentials, with its tiles made from up to 70% recycled material and glass materials.
Trend’s main technical challenge was to bring alive Kusama’s sketches, with the artist insisting on creation of several special tile shades from scratch. Employing computer-aided design techniques, Trend created a digital interpretation of the source design, the pixellated properties of the tiny 1 x 1 cm glass mosaic tiles enabling precise reproduction.
The tesserae from Trend are traditionally fused and coloured en masse to ensure consistency of shade throughout the depth of the tile, retaining their definition and brightness over a lifetime. As per Trend, they are resistant to sunlight and colour fading, non-porous to water, will withstand cleaning fluids and are inherently slip resistant, making authentic glass mosaic historically valued for such works of installation art.
Trend’s stock range of authentic glass mosaic tiles are available in standard 1cm, 1.5cm and 2cm square formats and a series of irregular and hand-cut sizes. It is also offered in a selection of colours, textures and materials, including precious enamels and 24 carat gold leaf.
Opened in December 2012, the Louvre-Lens is one of France’s biggest recent cultural developments, representing an investment of €150 million ($196 million) and occupying a total surface area of 28,000 square metres on a 20 hectare reclaimed site. Featuring a series of low rise, steel-and-glass buildings with a low environmental impact, the Louvre-Lens was designed by Japanese architects SANAA in association with New York museum specialists Imrey-Culbert and French landscape artist Catherine Mosbach, following an international architecture competition. It will house a rotating collection of around 900 masterpieces from the Paris museum, comprising a succinct history of art from the 4th millennium BC to the mid-19th century, shown in chronological sequence.
