Social sofa

This mosaic bench in Woldendorp is one of ten social sofas in ten different villages along the Dutch Wadden Sea coast. Inhabitants were asked to bring ideas for a design that should fit to the theme "Wadden Sea coast".

The social sofas are part of a project called Kiek Over Diek (local dialect for "view over the dike"). The project was started to make the natural and landscape elements of this area, that is on the Unesco World Heritage list though not widely known, more visible to people.

Mosaic bench

This mosaic bench at the Hoofdstraat in Stadskanaal pictures the growth of the city after WW2. Philips opened a factory in Stadskanaal in 1955, which meant a lot of jobs and economical growth obviously. New residential areas came, as well as a theater and a library. In 2004 Philips decided to stop making products here and closed its factory.
On the bench are photos of a number of houses and buildings of that time.

Children of the local Gabriël Dam primary school put the tiny glass mosaic pieces on this bench.

I´m linking to Tom´s Tuesday´s Treasures.

PS. Happy birthday to my mom!

Mosaic art

This house located at the Zandvoort boulevard is a small gallery. The mosaic art on the outside wall was designed by Dutch sculptor Nel Klaassen (1906-1989), together with her husband and painter Jaap Bouhuys (1902-1983).

Great Hall floor

Inside the Rijksmuseum, the vast Great Hall ('Voorhal') leading to the Gallery of Honour ('Eregallerij') has a floor with inlaid mosaics that picture a variety of images like the four seasons, the four largest rivers in the world, and the 12 signs of the zodiac.

Mosaic chair

When you enter the exhibition 'DE KONING VAN GRONINGEN' ('THE KING OF GRONINGEN') in the Groninger Museum, you pass this majestic mosaic chair. It is placed on a high cube of which the front is a mirror that (when I was there) reflected a small stool standing in the hallway.
Note how the chair fits in perfectly with the colourful tiled wall!

The exhibition shows the art collection of Jan Albert Sichterman (1692-1764), a merchant from Groningen and said to be one of the most striking figures of the 18th century. The collection includes Asian ceramics, porcelain, portraits, furniture, silver, and so much more. It can be seen until March 1.

Linking to Weekend Reflections.

patterns

These are a few examples of the mosaic floors we saw on the Greek islands Kos and Nisyros, last October.

Imagine the many hours this must have taken to put all the thousands of small stones into place..  Impressive, don't you agree?