Felix Muhrhofer
Fabrizio Travisanutto

Felix Muhrhofer designs stunning functional art by pushing the boundaries of terrazzo, but his dream has always been to collaborate with a mosaic artist. 
The universe complied with a chance to work with Fabrizio Travisanutto at the renowned mosaic studio founded by his father, Giovanni Travisanutto Srl. Fabrizio explains the technique as he shows him a six-meter-high portrait of Mary for a cathedral. Their joint project is not nearly as large, but it is a technical challenge to combine mosaic with terrazzo. Muhrhofer’s idea is to craft a series of tables in which a universe of terrazzo surrounds a mosaic planet. When they enter a storage room, Muhrhofer stops short.

The tiles come in hundreds and hundreds of colors, and he realizes he needs to redo his drawings –and to buy pencils in many, many more colors. The next day, he returns to the studio with more detailed drawings. Over the next several weeks he and Travisanutto are in frequent touch as they make their first table, testing and refining the process they worked out together. The terrazzo is poured into the mold around the mosaic, and some light years later, as Muhrhofer puts it, it is dry and ready to be polished. The result is remarkable: a glowing planet is suspended in a dark universe lit by a sparkling milky way. “It is convincing and space-like,” says Travisanutto, pleased that he managed to make the planets look three-dimensional. “I really think there could be a market for such a beautiful product.” Muhrhofer agrees: “If the market opens up, we absolutely will work together.”