Sophie Drouin Mosaics
Sophie Drouin Mosaics
“Dalle de Verre” is a French term that literally means “slab of glass”. It is the invention of the artisanal mosaic glassmaker Albertini in France in the 1920s, in response to the wish of stained glass artists of the time to be able to work with texture and dimension as well as colour. Today it is still made near Paris by the descendants of the original Albertini, as well as by Blenko in Milton, West Virginia and by Kokomo (purveyors to Tiffany Glass) in Indiana in the United States. The slabs from all makers are rectangular, measuring more or less a foot square and an inch thick, and weigh approximatively 8 pounds each. Besides its use in stained glass, this material can also be included in mosaic as an alternative to “transparenti” smalti, or it can be combined with mosaic using a special technique that allows the glass to poke through both top and bottom layers of a slab of reinforced concrete, to which mosaic is added after the concrete has set. The resulting decorated slab of concrete can by set in a stone or metal pedestal as a free-standing sculpture, or in can be inserted or hung in a window space. Combining the translucence of dalle de verre with the warm texture of mosaic makes for an ever-changing work of art that responds to the daily and seasonal changes of light ratio inside and outside a home’s windows.
This exhibition lighting setup replicates backlighting as would occur in a window while also lighting up the mosaics applied to the front of the pieces.
Dalle de verre in cement slab. sold
Dalle de verre cement slab.
Stylised Cicada.
Dalle de verre in cement slab with added mosaics (marble, granite, mookaite)
Dalle de verre in cement slab with added mosaic (marble, gold smalti)
sold
Same piece as the previous photo, as seen during daytime. This illustrates how varied window mosaics appear according to various degrees of inside-outside light ratios during daytime and night time.
Dalle de Verre in cement slab, with glass and obsidian mosaic on top surface.
Dalle de verre in cement slab
sold
Dalle de Verre slab with marble, copper weave and wood.
Dalle de Verre cement slab with marble, gold smalti and azurite nodules.
Dalle de Verre in cement slab
Added mosaic on surface (marble)
Dalle de Verre in cement slab, marble, sandstone, azul Bahia granite and gold smalti mosaics.
sold