They also require a careful, creative calibration. “Everything is done by hand,” Mesguich says, explaining that he and Larif personally sketch all of the studio’s designs, then work with their team to cut the raw material and meticulously place it by hand. “It’s a time-consuming activity. Mosaics sit as a bridge between architecture and the arts.”

Mesguich first began to work with mosaics when designing a fountain to install in a city square he was planning. He immediately fell in love with the creative act. “When you’re a town planner, it takes years to see what you imagine as there are so many restrictions and regulations,” he notes. “With mosaic, you are free. Totally free.”

After that first fountain, Mesguich trained in a studio while continuing to work as an architect until he could go full time into mosaics six years later. He credits the Peter Marino-designed Guerlain store on Champs-Élysées, where he installed gilded floor-to-ceiling mosaics that feel like “walking into the bottle of perfume” as his first big break.

He joined forces with Larif in Barcelona in 2010, finding that their respective approaches to mosaic were perfectly complementary. Mesguich is incredibly precise, bringing to life exactly what a client requests; Larif takes a more artistic approach, using glass off-cuts and shards to create one-of-a-kind works in unexpected color combinations. With showrooms in Paris and Barcelona and a team of 16, the pair works across commercial and residential projects, delivering beautiful spaces for the likes of Aman, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Patek Philippe, and others.