After high school she went to London and jobbed in the creative industry. While visiting a mosaic course at Hampstead School of Art, she bought material and met an architect. Other people from the mosaic industry passed her way. And before she knew it she was in the midst of a training for a Europe-wide mosaic operation. Her training in the UK was followed by a phase in Paris and a major project in Scotland she led on her own. There, she realized that she was good in working independently. So with 24, she founded her own company in the hip East End of London .
London, Paris, Berlin
For several years, Nicole has her studio Zäch Mosaike in Berlin Wilmersdorf, in the backyard of a modern factory building. With a team of permanent and freelance staff she creates mosaics for hotels, wellness areas, kitchens, restaurants. But even disco balls in skull shape have been produced by the team. The preferred material at Zäch Mosaike is glass mosaic like these produced by Bisazza and Sicis. For Nicole her work is more than just a craft. She invests lot of time to design a mosaic that exactly suits the customer and make him feel comfortable with the result.
Cooperation with archtitects and designers
Nicole gets her orders from all over Europe and often cooperates with architects. At present the team works on a mosaic for a private house in Switzerland. There, a light-filled stairwell will be covered completely with glass mosaic. At a height of 10 meters millions of stones in shades of the forest outside the house will make you feel that you stand in the middle of nature. No ordinary mosaic, but architectural art at its best.
A woman in a men’s world
Often, Nicole and her mostly female team are the only women on the site. The self-confident woman is used to that. During her first project in a scottish castle, she had to bear up against common prejudices though. The tiler wasn’t able to cope with the conditions on the site. When Nicole was sent to save the job, they looked at her in disbelief . “But then I finished the job with my team in a fraction of the time the tiler had already invested. And people realized: Okay, she can.” The newer anecdotes from the site make you smile. “Often men necessarily have to care for something in the room in which we are working. Changing a light bulb or something. I find that really sweet.”
