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Explore Artisans Museums & Galleries Experience Itineraries About
©Warren King Photography
©Warren King Photography
©Warren King Photography
©Gary Drostle

Gary Drostle

  • Mosaic maker
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Master Artisan
Gary Drostle Mosaic maker
©Peabody

Award-winning architectural mosaics

  • • Gary designs, fabricates and installs site-specific mosaics
  • • He is skilled in the paper-face reverse technique of mosaic making
  • • He is inspired by history and the invisible stories of each site

For 30 years, Gary Drostle has specialised in making large-scale mosaic artworks, on commission. With each piece he tries to combine the clients’ wishes with a sense of place, and each work is designed to harmonise with and reflect the specific site. “I look at all aspects of the site” he explains. “The architecture, the landscape, the history and heritage of the location and of course the client themselves. In this way each work is specifically connected to the location where it is sited. Moreover my designs are heavily influenced by my own experience as a craftsman and artist based in London from a working class neighbourhood, where I still live. I think the nature of London as a world city, a melting pot of cultures from around the world and my interest in the history of working people all feeds into my designs.”

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Gary Drostle
  • ©Gary Drostle
  • ©Gary Drostle
  • ©Gary Drostle
  • ©Shrapnel
Photo: ©Gary Drostle
Lily Pond

This 2-metre diameter trompe l’oeil exterior floor mosaic depicting a koi pond with water lilies. The mosaic is made from entirely hand cut and laid mosaic tesserae, created in the studio using the paper-face technique and then transferred and fixed to the site.

Diameter 200 cm

Photo: ©Gary Drostle
A walk along the Californian seashore

One of a series of 10 floor panels set in a bespoke terrazzo floor, this panel wraps around a curved stairway and represents a tidal rock pool. The overall mosaic scheme was created for the main entrance lobby of the new Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in California.

Height 1600 cm
Width 400 cm

Photo: ©Gary Drostle
Entwined Histories

This 3-metre high Rope Sculpture sits on the site of the former rope works of the London Docks. The sculpture represents the many different migrant communities that have settled in this area from the 1600s to the present day, often working in the docks or in the local textile factories.

Height 300 cm
Width 85 cm

Photo: ©Gary Drostle
Roman garden mosaic

This entrance gateway exterior floor mosaic was commissioned as part of the renovation of the Roman Gardens in Chester. The mosaic draws on the famous Four Seasons mosaic in Tunisia – in this example Gary Drostle depicts the plants introduced by the Romans to Britain and scenes of garden life.

Diameter 300 cm

Photo: ©Shrapnel
Shrapnel

Poignantly named "Shrapnel, 1914: War is a gun with a soldier at each end" this mosaic was created to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War. It depicts a regular English infantry soldier in the Somme trenches. Constructed in a modern direct technique, the image is formed in horizontal lines of marbles and porcelain laid on it’s side to give a riven surface.

Length 164 cm
Width 60 cm
Height 6 cm

Enjoy an experience with Gary Drostle

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