Dianne and Houcine Chikhaoui are enthusiastic mosaic artists. They both create unique and distinctive mosaics, and enjoy capturing the life and energy of the subject matter. They like to create a relationship between the viewer and the subject.
Houcine has university qualifications in Fine Art Mosaic and Sculpture from L’Institut des Beaux Arts in Tunis. He operated his own mosaic enterprise for 15 years, and employed 11 people full time. His enterprise specialized in making commissions and restorations of interior and exterior mosaics, such as hotel floors, swimming pools and bathrooms, as well as decorative marble mosaics in Roman and classical styles. Houcine has exhibited in Italy, Germany, Belgium and France, before moving to Switzerland, where he began making highly detailed glass mosaics. He now creates large scale mosaics where he engages the senses. Houcine sees materials like glass, smalti and marble as not solid, but like dough, which he forms fluidly and with great finesse. His objective is not only to create works of art that are aesthetically and artistically pleasing to the eye, but also to create something of artistic value. Every single piece of glass has an importance, and its placement is highly considered and adds to the value of the finished mosaic. He is better known by the name ‘Kala Jarda’, which has a very profound meaning to him, as well as being the name of the village of his birth.
Dianne completed a teaching degree with an Art Major. She spent much of her childhood drawing horses, and later dabbled in cross stitch, tapestry, pottery, textiles and leadlighting. She later created many commissions of horses and dogs in pastel, before discovering mosaics. She then became a passionate creator of both realistic and decorative mosaics. She has a special interest in animals, which she brings to life by establishing an emotional connection with her skill and attention to detail. She often describes herself as a painter, with glass as her medium.
Dianne and Houcine first established a friendship among other mosaic artists on social media in 2014, and discovered that they had many things in common. After overcoming many obstacles, they married in Switzerland in 2018, and Houcine moved to Australia in January 2019. They are now becoming very well known in the mosaic world, and between them have received awards and recognition in many art shows and exhibitions. They have a home studio in Melbourne, where they live with their cavoodle Marley, and their Birman cat Jamal.
All mosaics created by Dianne and Houcine are made in their studio and are for internal display, unless otherwise stated or requested. Wall art is ready to hang, although wall fixtures are not included. It is important to ensure the correct hardware is used to hold the weight securely. Injury or breakages are not the artists’ responsibility, and care is needed to handle the artworks.