Let’s dive… straight into the heart of Paris. We are in the middle of the nineteenth century. At this time, many Italian mosaicists settle and color the monuments of the capital.
Isidore Odorico and his brother came all the way from the small Province of Friuli. They are part of this movement and decided to move to Tours after leaving their mark at the Opéra Garnier in Paris.
As good entrepreneurs, craftspeople shared the map and spread throughout the far north-west. That is when they migrated a little further west to settle in Rennes as a family.
We are now in 1882. This is the interwar period. The materials used are mainly marble or stone and the orders taken are largely restorations of ancient mosaics.
The Odorico brothers eventually responded to orders placed by architects for the dioceses of Ille-et-Vilaine and the Côtes-du-Nord, in line with the great decorations of the late 19th century Marian basilicas: Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseilles, Fourvière in Lyon, etc.
The bulk of their production is made of mosaic floor decorations, especially in building entrances or shops.
The indirect mosaic technique, acquired in their homeland, allows craftsmen to prepare 50 cm designs inside the workshop, gaining considerable time and significantly reducing costs.
This technique, particularly effective with simple geometric motifs—which also require less cutting of tessels—led, with the second generation of mosaicists and the son also named Isidore Odorico, to a strong Art Deco mosaic influence in colors and abstract, geometric expressions.
But Odorico’s “signature” is not defined solely by technical mastery. «Odorico knew how to incorporate small glass paste mosaics into sober cement patterns that enhanced colors by playing with light», explains Philippe Bohuon of Rennes Métropole’s art and history service.
The construction of villas in Brittany’s seaside resorts and the growth of tourism gave a boost to the Odorico family business and other Italian mosaicists.
But there is one factor you may not have thought of: hygiene.
The rise of hygienism at the time and the use of washable mosaic surfaces (as opposed to traditional wooden flooring) proved to be a perfect match.