The Louvre features another expression of Italian art: Trend mosaics decorate the foyer of the Louvre-Lens Auditorium

Trend Group, a market leader in the production of mosaic, marble and decorative glass from Vicenza, has completed a highly prestigious international project: the creation and installation of mosaics for the foyer of the Auditorium at the Louvre Lens, the new concept museum that is a spin-off of the famous Musée du Louvre, and which will be inaugurated later this year in Lens-Pas de Calais, in northern France on the border with the Belgian region of Wallonia. Trend was selected to reproduce a complex floral pattern with tiny mosaic tiles (1×1 cm). The pattern was specially created by a truly charismatic figure in the world of contemporary art: Yayoi Kusama. The project was a prestigious one, but also a considerable technical challenge because we were intent on bringing this Japanese designer’s sketches to life in detail and with exact colour hues. The artist and designer, well-known in the luxury market for her collaborations with Lancôme, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, asked that we create special fluorescent hues and shades from scratch.

The mosaic decoration is the distinctive feature of the foyer of the Auditorium, which is a modular and multifunctional structure with a maximum capacity of 300 seats that will accommodate exhibitions, art installations, conferences and events. The project was entrusted to our Italian company because of a number of important assets, such as the use of digital avant garde technology for building and customizing patterns, the fully in-house management of the production stage, and – last but not least – the environmental sustainability credentials that Trend mosaics has, made with a high percentage (up to 70%) of post-consumer recycled glass. A low environmental impact, in fact, is one of the true advantages of this fascinating museum designed by SANAA in Tokyo (by architects Kazuyo Seijima and Ryue Nishizawa) in association with Parisian landscape architect Catherine Mosbach. The Louvre Lens complex is made up of a series of two-story buildings made of glass and steel, with stark lines but with astonishing breadth and visual impact, covering a total area of 28,000 square meters, located in the middle of a large mining park of 240,000 square meters, now largely covered by greenery and foliage, serving as a memory of the mining activities which, until the ’60s, represented the main source of income and employment for the Nord-Pas de Calais region. Louvre Lens is a large and ambitious cultural project with a European feel. The new museum, in fact, carries the prestige and artistic heritage of the Louvre in a location that is easily accessible from Belgium, Germany, Holland, Denmark and the United Kingdom, for an estimated potential turnout of 500,000 visitors per year. Secondly, the Louvre Lens will be the host of new and interdisciplinary events and exhibitions that break down the usual barriers between techniques, schools and departmental classifications, free from the systemic rigidity that has always hovered over the historic Rue de Rivoli museum. “We are proud to have been asked to collaborate on such a prestigious International project, as we also share the same environmental sustainability philosophy” – says Federica Bisazza, Manager of Image/Communications and Projects. “For our company, it serves as further recognition for the work that we have carried out over the years with passion, skill and absolute dedication to quality.”