An unbreakable bond is what unites SICIS with the world of art. It may be due to the close relationship between the company and the city where it grew — Ravenna — a place rich in history and culture, which boasts seven UNESCO cultural heritage monuments. This artistically fertile area has provided inspiration and nourishment For SICIS to study and develop its mosaic works, with deep passion for ancient technique, cultivated with care, grown and made original by introducing innovations and forming a team of skilled masters who have transformed SICIS into the biggest artistic mosaic laboratory in the world.
This magnetic attraction towards the greatest artists of the past and present has prompted SICIS to transform famous paintings into enduring eternal mosaic interpretations.
In 1998, the Comune of Rome involved SICIS in a great project: to decorate with mosaic art entire walls of the most important underground stations in Rome. It was the first use of mosaic art in this specific field, unlike the use of simple single-color tiles. The project, of international significance, brought together 27 contemporary artists from Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Spain, Russia, and many other countries.
During the following years SICIS has then transposed into mosaic famous artworks by Arcimboldo, Klimt, Jakuchu, In 2020, it was involved in a project that sanctioned its link with art and beauty. As sponsor of the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020, it created the internal artistic mosaic coverings for the Theatre of Memory. The official claim of Padiglione Italia — “Beauty unites people” — represents exactly the vision of SICIS — that art is a passion that goes beyond any place, religion, ideology, or difference.
SICIS reproduces life-size Bakst drawings in mosaics
This philosophy is driving SICIS to face its new challenge in early 2022: interpreting through glass tiles artworks of one of the personalities that most characterized the fashion and design of the 1900s: Léon Bakst.
Bakst had deeply influenced Europe at the beginning of the last century. Illustrator, portraitist and then set designer for the famous Ballet Russes, in his scenes and costumes he skillfully managed to combine the refinement of French symbolism with various popular traditions, achieving a success that soon crossed the borders of the old world.
SICIS has reproduced in life-size some of the most celebrated drawings made by Bakst, those for the costumes of “Cléopâtre”, “Narcisse”, “Carnaval” and “La Péri”. With incredible professionalism, and combining ancient artisan techniques with new pictorial languages, the SICIS mosaic masters have been able to recreate the precious effects of Bakst’s drawings, using glossy, opaque, iridescent, and metallic glass materials that reinterpret the rich robes in silk, organza, brocade, and georgette, and the marvelous jewels in metals and precious stones, with which Léon Bakst loved to adorn the bodies of the dancers. The raw material and the mastery of the skilled SICIS mosaic artists combine to unify traditional and innovative mosaic techniques, specifically designed project by project. Skillful use of color is applied, like the skillful brushstrokes of a master creator of art. Last but not least, the patience, precision, and dedication with which, tile by tile, they give shape to these masterpieces.
Bakst’s multifaceted personality, and his ability to interpret beauty in the most diverse fields, from art to fashion, to design, is what most attracted SICIS, prompting it to create this extraordinary capsule collection. For over 30 years, SICIS has been doing precisely that: bringing beauty into every aspect of life.
