floors

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History

Archaeologists Uncover a Lavish Marble Floor from Ancient Rome in Southern France

Developers of an apartment building in Nîmes, France, had to halt construction last month when archaeologists discovered an opulent tiled floor that once blanketed a Roman villa, or domu. Dating back to 1-2 A.D., the checkered design is comprised of marble from multiple empirical provinces that’s inlaid into the foundation, a style called opus sectile that was prevalent during ancient times. Spanning multiple feet, the multi-colored pattern is thought to occupy what once was a reception area.

During their dig, archaeologists also uncovered plaster sheets that had caved in on the impeccably preserved tiles featuring classic frescoes on red and black panels. Lines score the back of the decorative pieces, which would have helped them adhere to the earthen walls. Other findings indicate that this domu, along with another nearby, were particularly lavish and featured a private bath, a concrete floor speckled with decorative gemstones, and a large central fountain made from Carrara white marble. One room even had remains of hypocaust heating, an inventive system that sent hot air underneath the flooring to warm the home. (via The History Blog)

 

Art

Floorboards Burst in Destabilizing Wood Installations by Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels

Knoxville, Tennessee-born artist Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels ruptures long-held conceptions that human environments are stable⁠—literally. Part of two different projects at Catinca Tabacaru Gallery and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Bothwell Fels creates ridge- and mountain-like installations that split and burst through the floorboards, sometimes even spanning multiple rooms. With lighter pigmented tops, the wood pieces swell and expand, solidifying their resemblance to natural features.

The artist’s goal is to transform mundane spaces into areas of disruption, forcing her viewers to question how their environments inform their senses of reality. In a statement, Bothwell Fels said her “sculptural ecosystems pierce the architectural facade of banality with fantastical outcroppings of growths, pores, wrinkles, spills, fractalized structures, and rupture, inviting a reassessment (of) the norms that are established and reinforced through the physical materiality of our built environments.”

Her show Beauty Surplus is on view through May 24 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Check out Instagram for more of Bothwell Fels’s destabilizing projects. (via Art Ruby)

Design Photography

New Charming Mosaic and Tile Floors Captured by Photographer Sebastian Erras

Photographer Sebastian Erras (previously here and here) captures diverse and fanciful mosaic floors throughout Europe and Cuba, placing all of his downward-facing finds on his Instagram @parisianfloors. Erras began his project focused on tiled patterns throughout Paris, but began expanding outward as he noticed equally breathtaking floors in cities such as Barcelona and London. Included here are two perspectives of the sea-themed floor of the restaurant Le Bon Pecheur in Paris, a shot of a friendly looking crab and a fantastically rendered conical shell.

You can see a wider range of Erras’s interior photography and other mosaic-covered floors on his portfolio site.

Design

An Optical Illusion Tile System Designed by Casa Ceramica

British tile company Casa Ceramica have designed a novel optical illusion flooring system that uses real tiles to create a vertigo-inducing warped floor. The skewed checkerboard floor functions as the entryway to their showroom in Manchester, lending an Alice in Wonderland atmosphere to a generally traditional medium. You can see a couple more photos on their Instagram. (via Laughing Squid)

They are actual tiles pic.twitter.com/7HvTqz9jHP

— Casa Ceramica (@casaceramica) September 22, 2017

A post shared by Casa Ceramica Tile Company (@casaceramicatiles) on May 8, 2017 at 9:46am PDT

Design Photography

New European Mosaic Floors Captured by Photographer Sebastian Erras

German photographer Sebastian Erras (previously) made his mosaic-focused Instagram @parisianfloors famous by capturing the detailed floors beneath the feet of Parisians, one perspective shots that featured his feet transposed against colorful tiles. Now Erras does not limit himself to capturing only Paris’s tiles, and has been capturing some beautiful patterns found in the buildings of London. The above shot from London’s Royal College of Art is one of our personal favorites.

You can see more of Erras’s photography projects on his portfolio site. (via Culture N Lifestyle)

 

Photography

The Ornate Mosaics and Colorful Tiles of Parisian Floors Shared Through Photographer Sebastian Erras’ Instagram Account

Photographer Sebastian Erras‘s Paris-based project has only one perspective—down. This vantage however, never fails to delight as it is captures the ornate mosaics of Parisian floors, brightly patterned tiles and scenes that exist underfoot. Each shot within Parisian Floors (@parisianfloors) is uniform, a cropped image of Erras’s own shoes and the surrounding tile decorations. This repetitive shot ensures we keep our focus on the tiles, highlighting the exquisite forms that make their way below the photographer’s feet.

Inspiration for the project began when Erras took a trip to Morocco, bringing his love of mosaics back with him to France. Here he became aware of the beautiful floors that graced Paris, coming back to the city with a fresh eye to start his Instagram-focused project.

“After a while being in Paris and wandering around the city, the main attractions and sights become a given,” Erras told Colossal. “Now looking down more often I get to see a whole new side of this city! It has been a good motivation to rediscover Paris again.”

Placing the project on Instagram also allows Erras to map the city of Paris through geotags, building comprehensive map of images and allowing the photographer to see which areas of the city he has yet to discover. (via My Modern Met)