The London School of Mosaic: Piecing Together Community

David Tootill was struggling to maintain his work-life balance. During the day, he taught in a secondary school. After lesson planning in the evening, he barely had time to read to his children. It was as if he was on a treadmill set at a speed that left him constantly exhausted. After three years of working as a teacher, he became more frustrated with the stifling rigidity of traditional schools. He decided to leave secondary school teaching to establish a progressive organisation that combined two of his interests: education and mosaic.

As a student, he visited surviving mosaics from St Mark’s Basilica in Venice to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. He was fascinated by their intricacy. “Mosaic is architecture’s most expressive type of surface and it’s a way of turning something bland into something interesting,” says David. He then began experimenting with the ancient art of mosaic in the UK.

More than decoration
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David initially set up the social enterprise Southbank Mosaics. He believes that there is more to mosaic than decoration. It can enable socially excluded people or communities to fully participate in society. Southbank Mosaics was a community-based programme that aimed to engage at-risk young people in creating mosaic art in shared community spaces. Although the organisation became quite successful, he felt that it needed to offer something else, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Eureka moment

In 2011, David attended a lecture given by Dr Will Wootton where he called for more schools of mosaic in the UK. “Most of Britain’s ancient mosaics have been discovered, sometimes restored, and then reburied in order to preserve them. We don’t have many UK based specialists with the skills to restore them. Mosaics are part of our history. We need to make them an open history and not hidden,” says David. David decided to establish a school that serves the diverse needs of the local community while providing some with the skills to restore mosaics. This led to Southbank Mosaics developing into the London School of Mosaic.

“We’re training people from beginners right through to higher education. That includes children from primary school age to adults studying fine art,” says David. The school offers accredited courses. It supports participants with special educational needs and disabilities, and has delivered a mosaic course for young people who are serving community sentences as part of their rehabilitation programme in Camden.

David believes empty spaces are often magnets for antisocial behaviour. For this reason, the London School of Mosaic is interested in improving public spaces, through encouraging more social interaction and civic engagement. This is why he chose to house the London School of Mosaic in garages that were derelict for 42 years in Camden. They’ve created installations in public spaces and have received letters of thanks from the public for revitalising once bland spaces.

The school’s successes
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They have 22 resident artists and encourage them to create links between mosaic and other art forms. They have artists involved in fashion, sewing, ceramics and film, photography and painting, printing and bookbinding. The school collaborates with international mosaic experts to share good practice with their students. “We do a lot of work with Italians here because we recognise that they have a fantastic tradition in mosaic…If you know how to do something well, then it’s good to share your expertise,” says David.

Around 150 people have successfully completed courses at the school at level 2. Several London School of Mosaic course participants have also set up their own mosaic-related businesses. “We’re very pleased to see people move on and thrive. We’ve encouraged that and support that, ” says David.