Artaic's Blog – Create…Innovate…Design…Build

Okay, pause for a minute and look through the spaces in your home. If you are bored at what is staring back at you, it is time to get inspired. Here, ARTAIC is sharing some design trends for twenty-ten that will freshen up your home and keep you interested. Remember, boredom is not a style or an option!

Natural is Always Better

Today, there is a strong emphasis on the use of materials in their natural patina. The texture and beauty provided by each is undeniable. Consider using woods to create cozy and lived-in environments, ceramic and glass when rooms desire a polished and reflective surface, and felt or wool for that added warmth. Metal is also preferred this year because they take on an entirely new quality and appearance when they rust, which is a healthy age. Incorporating natural materials in furniture, textiles, and accessories will keep a space from looking stale and outdated.

Gray Matters

The color gray makes a splash as it covers every surface in design. Go beyond beige and white; gray is the new neutral. As a stand-alone, it is not an overpowering color when applied to all four walls but has enough contrast to provide furniture with beautiful silhouettes. However, when paired with colors that are energetic like golden yellow or peacock blue, the combination is sharp and modern. If there are fears of committing to intense colors, gray is truly the hand (color) to have and hold when taking the risk.

Comeback Tour

Wallpaper is making its debut again in home design. Wallpaper is the perfect alternate for paint- instant design, texture, and color. They make a strong statement in any room and have the ability to transform a space into any desired look whether it is traditional, contemporary, etc. As many embrace the ceiling as a canvas to design upon, wallpapered ceiling is another fresh idea. If wallpaper is not inspiring enough, a modern interpretation of that would be using mosaic tiles to dress up the walls. ARTAIC has the unique, technological ability to create any designs while giving clients that enhanced beauty and depth that only mosaic tiles can give. Also the durability behind the tiles are great for applications in not just residential settings but also commercial.

It’s generally assumed that each new year will desire new changes and new styles. However, these ideas are error-proof and will not fall short of design, creativity, or flexibility for the changing mind and home.

Mosaic Art Now, a publication that “promotes the international understanding and appreciation of contemporary mosaics through high-quality publications and a lively online presence” recently posted an article in which Artaic was mentioned in a somewhat negative light.

You can view their post here:

http://mosaicartnow.blogspot.com/2010/02/wide-spectu-mosaic.html

Paul Reiss, Artaic’s creative director responded to the post with this response:

We at Artaic are glad to hear the response that mosaic artists have to what we are doing with the automation of mosaic fabrication. It is important to note that Artaic in no way wishes to challenge traditional mosaic artists. In fact, we hold such artists in extremely high regard and greatly admire the tradition, artistry, detail and creativity inherent in each unique hand-made work of mosaic art.

Artaic has simply created a new way to design and fabricate “opus-regulatum” mosaics (regular row-column mosaics). It may not be traditional hand-cut mosaic, but we’re still piecing together tesserae to create a form of mosaic artistic expression. Our software allows artists to have full control of what color tile goes where in the final mosaic. This is done digitally rather than physically yet the artist still has complete creative control.

Inventions of one sort or another have always been important in the progression of fine art. The invention of the camera led to a great new media for artistic expression. Does that make the photographer any less of an artist than a painter? But then again, the paintbrush was invented at one point as a new way to express creativity. Artaic has simply created a new media for artistic expression and we happily share our software with any artist willing to branch out into exciting new forms of artistic media.

The response has since been posted in a new Mosaic Art Now blog post:

http://mosaicartnow.blogspot.com/2010/02/and-now-word-from-artaic.html

It is great to see that there is a real conversation starting. One in which everyone has a chance to voice their opinion. Artaic tries hard to find a balance between art and technology and having mosaic artists comment on what we are doing is integral in our growth as a mosaic company.