Our range of handcrafted glass mosaic bowls, coasters, wall art, and mirrors are imported from the exotic island of Bali from a small highland village, providing employment to a group of amazing women from the local coummunity.  

There is an extensive process behind each element of the mosaics, once finished and all pulled together the result is truly striking.

The mosaic range is one of our customer favourites and we always get asked how they are made, so let us share the intricate process with you.

What is the base made from?

Our bowls are hand moulded from terracotta earthenware, or simply ‘clay’.  The bowls are produced in Lombok, a neighbouring island to Bali, where they are world famous for their terracotta products.

Where do the colours come from?

The colour palettes for our mosaic bowl range are designed by us here in the UK and put together in our workshop in Bali.  We have staff especially trained to paint these colours on to sheet glass so that they are bright, vibrant and striking.  On some of the colour palettes, for example our Calypso range, the terracotta base is painted white and the ‘cerise’ colour is painted directly on to the bowl so that it shines through some of the unpainted bits of glass.

How do you get all those little bits of glass?

All of those beautiful sheets of hand painted glass get cut into thin strips. 

Those strips are then hand cut piece by piece as they are applied to the terracotta base.  It’s a time consuming process and takes lots of skill and experience to cut with such precision.

And then?

After all the glass pieces have been applied it’s time to seal it with a grout mixture, which will be either white or black, depending on what the colour of the terracotta will be painted in the next step.   The grouting adds structural support and helps aesthetically with the finished product.

The finished product

The product is then hand painted at the base whether that be the terracotta base on the bowls or the fibre board used on the coasters, placemats and words.  This colour will be either black or white depending on the colour palette.

Dream work is Team work!

At The Red Gecko we really like to celebrate the origin of our mosaic products and we are immensely proud to work with such a great team of women with an excellent sense of humour and friendship.  When we visit the workshop we are always in for a bit of a laugh and always an introduction to something new, whether that be a local fruit to try or a snippet of everyday life in Balinese culture.