The History

OF THE INLAID ART

   The contemporary fabrication of mosaic artifacts dated back, to very ancient times and is considered a synthesis of evaluation of this art in the Mediterranean region. When men of the ancient East entered the historical era, appeared the  art of   carving interlaced geometrical patterns in the walls and pillars of sanctuaries and on obelisks and floors, and evolved afterwards with the evolution of man's spiritual need, to include the art of engraving and encrusting wood with metal, ivory and mother of  pearl.

    The lines and geometrical forms in the wooden articles encrusted with mosaic keep on meeting and generating each other in a dynamic rhythm reflecting eternity in the stream of time, rejecting limits and offering the contemplator a powerful sense of freedom in the limitless.

    The square symbolizes the physical tangible world, while the circle symbolizes the world of the spirit, the psychical intermediating between the two, symbolized by the octagon. The five branch star symbolizes the four and it's fifth ( the four fingers and the thumb, the four limbs and the head, the four senses and sight etc.) while the six branch star with it's two equi-lateral interlaced triangles, symbolizes Man, in which meet the spiritual and physical worlds, and the descent of spirit into matter (the triangle pointing downwards) and its emergence from the confining limits of form (the one pointing upwards).

    The vegetal ornamental forms emphasizes Harmony of nature and indicate the different aspects of mystical experience. Among them are distinguishable the palm tree (spiritual rebirth), the vine (ecstasy and spiritual intoxication) and the pine tree ( continuous renewal and greenness).

   In fact the tragedy of the modern world lies in the almost complete dichotomy between the spiritual and physical dimensions of man. Thus the Mosaic craftsmen, while carving and encrusting wood, expresses, in complete disagreement with the slogan "Art for itself", a spiritual need, corresponding to a cosmological symbolism, in accordance with the well known saying attributed to Hermes: "what is above is analogous to what is below and what is below is analogous to what is above."