New Ravenna Mosaics Archives - The Curated House

The Cure For A Boring Bathroom | New Ravenna Neutrals

“Beige is a colour that just doesn’t try hard enough in life.” So says my son Noah who clearly has a strong opinion about how to decorate. I love that he’s interested in how to make a visual statement, and I understand why he might feel the need to avoid neutrals, but is he right? I love him to pieces, but I don’t think so.

Take the latest collection of mosaic tiles from New Ravenna. The collection may be shades of grey {not beige}, but it clearly proves that neutral is anything but boring.

Texture. Pattern. Dimension. Detail. Contrast. Everything you need to take a bathroom {or backsplash, for that matter} from boring to breathtaking. This latest collection only underscores my belief that any product designed by an artist will have soul. Sara Baldwin’s latest artistry comes alive with her use of jewel glass and marble in mosaics and water-jet cut patterns that are at once modern and a reinvention of the best of tile design history over the ages.

Take for example “Kelp Forest,” an intricate, water-jet mosaic in glass that gestures at Art Deco with its undulating waves of cool perfection.

Even a classic hexagon is brought to life with the dimension and natural variation in this gorgeous grey stone.

New Ravenna inspires with endless options on how to elevate your next bathroom design to an unparalleled level of luxury and artistic sophistication. From tile carpets to feature walls to statement floors and delicate insets, the opportunity to create designs with delicious details is limitless. I hope you are as inspired as I am!

xo
s.

Design Find | New Ravenna Mosaics: Spectacular Designs + Innovative Techniques Mean The Sky Is The Limit!

Every once in awhile a new tile designer comes across my design desk whose product totally wows me, and Sara Baldwin and her company New Ravenna Mosaics has done just that. {I was going to say her designs “floor me,” but the pun was just too painful for such spectacular product.}

These decadent and luxurious mosaics are all created by hand by a team of 120 artisans and designers who work out of the New Ravenna Mosaics studio located in Exmore, Virginia, all under the direction of Founder and Creative Director Sara Baldwin. Using a mix of the traditional Italian hand-cut opus tessallatum technique and the modern day water jet technique, these spectacular patterns range from the lyrical to the geometric and from the graphic to the organic.

I confess that I have a secret Dream House that I am designing {emphasis on dream at the moment}, and I have been searching for quite some time for tile designs to use for a striking front entry – specifically, designs that would compliment the sophistication of a French white oak herringbone or chevron hardwood floor without competing too much. Let’s just say that several of these New Ravenna patterns will be going into my inspiration file for future use.

Working with materials ranging from natural stone and glass to bronze and gold accents, New Ravenna can completely customize any motif, even using the opus vermiculatum technique when necessary {water jet shapes outlined in hand cut pieces}.

Each mosaic is available made-to-measure for an individual installation according to the specifications of the designer or architect. Often, a design is interpreted into a custom colour palette and various materials, like mother of pearl, bronze, gold and glass are combined with marble and natural stone to create a truly bespoke tile application. Translation: The sky is the limit. A designer’s custom tile dreams come true!

If you find yourself thinking a true artist must be at the heart of the development of such a visual stunning line, you are most correct. It was while studying for her MFA in painting that Baldwin visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and fell in love with an ancient Roman mosaic pavement from the third century. Her fascination with the historic art of mosaics led Baldwin to learn for herself the centuries-old traditional mosaic techniques, and this led to the development of the spectacular line of New Ravenna Mosaics today.

How utterly femme-glam is the mirrored ikat mosaic above? {bites palm} Even the softer, ocean-toned ikat below is utterly sexy and glamorous.

Clearly, Sara Baldwin is a woman after my own heart with designs like this chevron pattern, below.

From traditional to modern, from graphic to painterly and even whimsical, Sara Baldwin and her team of artisans and designers at New Ravenna Mosaic have won me over.

Perhaps seeing the possibilities and these innovative designs from New Ravenna Mosaics will expand your imagination and leave you dreaming a little bigger? I know it has for me. In fact, I have no doubt I’ll be dreaming in tile and pattern tonight as I drift off.

xo
s.

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