A new mosaic workshop
2025 marked the beginning of the construction of my new mosaic workshop.
I had built in 2022 a small workshop in St Valery sur Somme where I stayed for 18 month after I moved back to France. It had a wonderful view on the Baie de Somme, but, as I knew it was temporary I did not invest too much in it. It was not very big and had no heating. Which means I could not work there from October til March.
Now that I am almost through with renovating my house along the Becquerel stream and its ducks, I need a place where I can actually store my materials, tools and actually work.
And so late last spring, I started by clearing the stables of the straw and hay that served as a ceiling…
Demolition
See the cow manger… That one was built out of RPG-proof concrete and flintstone pebbles.
Cleaning up straw, hay and the small tree trunks acting as rafters took me a month…
The ceiling above the cows was made of bundles of straw, hay and reeds, laid on long, slim tree trunks. The wall thing must have dated back to early 20th century…
Construction
Once all of this was gone, my friend Pascal and I reinforced the frame.
We then built a mezzanine to store the MosaicBlues moving crates.
Of course, none of the house walls are square… After all, it was built out of stones, timber and cob 200 years ago.
Next, we had to deal with the floor. This part of the barn was actually a cowshed.
We had to use a Jackhammer to demolish the very solidly built manger…
After some additional carpentry work, we put up walls and insulation.
As of January 5, 2026, I still have to tile the room. (with a small Opus Signinum mosaic I’ve had in mind for a while…)
And so, as soon as spring arrives, I’ll be able to move in and start working and welcoming interns to a proper mosaic workshop.
