Communities in Hackney are being brought together at a mosaic-making project in the borough.
The Hackney Mosaic Project, born from the 2012 Olympics in London, provides tools and teaching about the art of mosaic making, now from inside the pavilion in Hackney Downs.
Tessa Hunkin, the project’s founder and a professional mosaicist, told the Hackney Post that initially the scheme – then based in a disused shop on Murray Grove – was intended to be for people with mental health issues and drug addictions:
“To begin with we thought that we would need to hold separate sessions depending on different people’s requirements, but it quickly became clear that nobody minded who they were with.
“It’s now an important part of the project: people can come along and get involved no matter where they are from.”
Ms Hunkin estimates that over the past year, the Hackney Mosaic Project has drawn more than 100 volunteers. Ms Hunkin’s mosaic in Hackney Downs took nine months to complete.
She described the neighbourhood’s reaction as “amazingly positive”, adding: “People have been incredibly supportive.” It is just the latest work in a career that has provided mosaics for restaurateur Sir Terence Conran, the Spice Girls, and Westminster Cathedral.
The Hackney Mosaic Project will begin a commission for the lions’ enclosure at RSL London Zoo this winter, expecting the work to be finished by next spring.
