We love bringing our version of tasteful interiors to new and interesting environments – especially when we get the chance to apply our sensibilities and creativeness to a fellow professional’s practice.  Earlier this year we helped Dr. Mary Basler, a chiropractic doctor and principal of Basler Chiropractic, renovate her new clinic.  Photos by Robyn Ivy.

Dr. Basler practices open treatment – bringing patients together in an large, open space to simultaneously receive chiropractic treatments.  Instead of going to an individual treatment room, patients sit along side one another as Dr. Basler and her team apply their healing hands.  The result is a wonderful community environment where care is enhanced by connecting with fellow patients and learning about the science behind the treatments.

The space, on the other hand, presented some challenges – and opportunities – for the design team.  Long and narrow, the clinic’s primary treatment room featured a blank wall begging for a focal point.  Working with Dr. Basler, we knew whatever we placed on the wall needed to represent her fresh approach to healing – while representing an art form as unique as her practice.

Enter Primosaic.  Part art, part tile and part computer engineering, Primosaic translates images into mosaic artwork.  Mark Bowen and Bob Barrie, of Primosaic, developed this computer-aided process of creating a mosaic entirely out of tile.

Their process involves two steps to designing a tile mosaic – computer processing and “human processing.” Mark and Bob begin by determining the final overall size of the mosaic in order to predict the tile size. The mosaic prepared for Dr. Basler was made of thousands of 5/8″ square glass tiles, each a ‘pixel’ of a computer rendering of the leaves and water image – chosen because of its likeness to the curves of the spine.

Based on the computer rendering, Bob and Mark correlated each pixel with a glass tile.  Then, like good artists, they stood back and adjusted colors and details to improve for the human eye.  Each tile was applied to a substrate and the entire mosaic was grouted in a custom colored grout to enhance the image.  Dr. Basler’s mosaic is over 4′ high and 8′ wide and is edgebanded with stainless steel – a first for Primosaic and a challenge too, as it meant the tiles had to be precisely laid out to accommodate the edgebanding.

We were so pleased to learn that Dr. Basler’s patients have commented on the beauty of the mosaic, and its craftsmanship.  She told us recently that ” the mosaic introduces a calming aura and sets a tone of healing for my patients. The feedback I get from them is just another reassurance that the image and the piece is a perfect fit. I still find patients just standing in front of it, admiring its complexity.”

Artful interiors for all, in all environments.