You never know where your heart is going to take you.
For Freddy Boragina, his love of drawing and two decades as a tile setter led to the formation of Boragina Mosaics Company in 2001.
“My goal is to create custom mosaics that touch peoples’ lives, and add beauty to their environment,” Boragina said. “I have always loved art and tile – and in 2001, I found a way to combine the two.”
Freddy Boragina hand snips each tile to create a unique stained-glass effect in his custom mosaics. |
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Boragina was born of Italian descent in Toronto, Canada and pursued drawing as a hobby beginning in childhood. At age 18, he learned how to set tile through a local trade union and continued working with all types of tile on custom tile jobs over the next 20 years.
In 2001, at the request of a client, Boragina undertook the challenge of incorporating a compass mosaic into an entry foyer. This project “inspired me to experiment and develop my own method for creating contemporary mosaic art,” he said. “I discovered that by combining skills acquired as a tile setter, along with my talent for drawing gave me the unique flexibility to create one-of-a-kind mosaics. Instantly, the creative possibilities became endless, and the mosaics seem to flow out of me like water. I find that I can re-create any image into a custom mosaic, or let myself go and create something abstract or themed.”
Boragina’s mosaics are of the hand-snipped variety, giving him control over the shapes of the pieces. Smashing and hand-snipping allows him to convert any image into a custom mosaic, regardless of size or intricacy – and also to maintain close, fine-lined grout joints. The resulting project resembles stained glass images more than mosaic murals that use traditional square tiles.
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Boragina has
produced mosaics
in a range of
themes and images
from animals to
hobbies to music,
and can transform
any image
into a
custom mosaic.
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Boragina personally hand-crafts all detailed imagery and intricate work. He offers an on-site installation service and depending on the size of the project, he may enlist apprentice installers to assist with general snipping and installation.
New tiles are purchased specific to each project, which can be ceramics, porcelain, glass or natural stone like granite or marble, depending on the desired effect. Tiles are sourced from various North American and global suppliers.
To date, Boragina has created over 100 custom mosaics, and offers a Mosaic Gallery with a sample of designs that include animals, playing card motifs, birds, sealife, sports and hobby themes, cartoon superheroes, music, florals, exotica and a series of black-and-white sketch images. The existing images in the gallery can be ordered or Boragina can create a totally custom image from the customer or from Boragina’s original artwork.
Besides the design and creation of custom mosaics, Boragina Mosaics Company offers the installation of site-specific mosaics and specialty tile work for floors, walls, backsplash, etc. Weather-resilient Boragina custom mosaics can be used indoors and outdoors in settings such as custom homes and interiors, commercial and institutional settings, hotels, restaurants and casinos, pools, spas, water and theme parks, and signage sporting company logos or motifs. Most of Boragina’s work has been installed in residential settings to date, but he is open to residential and commercial work – whatever his clients desire.
“My clients are as varied as the applications for these mosaics: from private customers, interior designers, architects, builders to anyone who works with tile,” Boragina said.
Materials and projects present challenges. For instance, some materials like ceramic wall tile are softer and easier to shape, while other materials such as porcelain, glass and stone tiles require more attention and the use of power tools. And recently, a mural for a private residence with cathedral ceilings presented a challenge which was overcome with the use of a scaffold and planking system to complete the mosaic. Boragina’s framed mosaics have also been part of several gallery showings including one at the Joseph Carrier Art Gallery, Columbus Center, Toronto and the Toronto Children’s Charity, an Italian community fundraiser.
In addition to artistry and craftsmanship in each piece, there’s also something totally unique in every mosaic mural. “The ‘circle of life’ is a perfect circle that I hand snip out of tile and incorporate into every piece,” Boragina said. “This represents my belief that everything is interconnected — and gives the viewer the unique challenge to locate the circle in each mosaic.”
For more information on Boragina Mosaics Company, phone (416) 722-1175 in Toronto, email boraginamosaics@ aci.on.ca or visit
www.bamm.org.uk/boragina/ on the Web.
