Project Brief

The project was created in collaboration with James Brookman Design and involved the creation of a large swimming pool and sensory pool as well as the world’s largest 100% mother of pearl mural in a private wellness suite located in the UK.

The client brief was to create an exceptional wellness suite that reflected their passion for sailing, their love for spending time aboard their yacht, and their happy memories of the Greek Islands – an indulgent space to escape to. It gave birth to the overall concept for the room.

Swimming Pool created with Siminetti  Mother of Pearl Bianco Mosaics

The overall room in the client’s private residence was created as a wellness centre and included a large swimming pool, a sensory pool, a wet treatment area and a dry treatment room complete with luxury amenities.

For the pools, the client loved Mykonos in particular and wanted to replicate the azure blue colour of the water. It became a big challenge for the designers: how to finish the pool so that they get the right blue colour?

After researching the right materials, it became obvious that to achieve the perfect blue colour of water they needed a white pearlescent tile mirroring the sand found in the shallow waters of the Greek islands.

Siminetti’s mother of pearl mosaic tiles in Bianco were the perfect finish and allowed the designers to achieve the perfect blue. It is the refraction of light through the water that makes the water look blue and the white pearlescent background of our tiles ensured a natural azure looking pool. They were used to tile both the pool and sensory pool.

The client was so happy with the result that he said that walking in the pool was like walking on silk!

Bespoke Mother of Pearl Mural: The Largest in the World

The wall at the back of the room was a ‘problem area’ as it was curved and very close to the edge of the pool. But from a challenging wall, it became a stunning central focal point when it was decided to create a bespoke mural entirely made of shimmering mother of pearl reminiscent of sunlight on the open water.

In terms of scale, the bespoke design measured 8.46m wide x 2.68m high, covering an area of 22.64m2. Due to technical size requirements, the mural would be divided into 8 equal panels pattern-matching each other for a seamless final look.

The project started by creating conceptual sketches that were refined accordingly to the client’s preferences. The final motif represented their favourite island and happy place, Mykonos with the sun setting over the ocean and yachts at anchor.

The hand-drawn sketches were then refined and drawn in more detail on a very large paper surface. Then, to allow Siminetti to use a waterjet cutting technique, the motif was digitalised and prepared in great detail.

All the pearl used to create the mural was at least 10 years old and sourced from eco-friendly sustainable farmed locations. Siminetti dedicated a team of 4 skilled craftspeople that took 12 weeks to create the mural equating to 2304 manhours. It was estimated that over 100,000 pieces of pearl were used in total to create this one-off mosaic piece of art.