Like many who’ve toured Europe’s capitals, Ted Acworth was filled with wonder at the artistry and craftsmanship of the ancient mosaics that are displayed throughout public buildings and religious sites. Unlike most, however, he thought there might be a better way to make them.
Ted’s background in aerospace and mechanical engineering, along with his passion for mosaic design and fabrication, led him to found Boston, Massachusetts-based ARTAIC in 2007. Today, his company specializes in the design and fabrication of award-winning mosaics, employing innovative design tools and cutting-edge robotic technology. Its unique design and manufacturing process provides infinite opportunities for artistic expression while decreasing lead time and cost.
“Clients need to see the project before they buy. It’s imperative that we do that part really well or we don’t get to sell the product.”
In addition to solving the design and fabrication of custom mosaics, however, Ted needed to find a way to provide accurate digital renderings and physical samples of proposed projects for the architects, interior designers, and artists ARTAIC works with worldwide. Ted connected with Roland DG to see if we could provide some assistance. We talked with Ted about how he developed his business, how he solved his need for accurate sample boards produced on demand, and what he sees trending in the world of custom interiors.
ARTAIC specializes in colorful custom mosaics for indoor and outdoor environments.
You’ve worked for NASA and MIT. What led you to establish ARTAIC?
Ted Acworth: It’s an odd story. My background is in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and I’ve worked in optics software and with other advanced technologies. Between work stints, I hitchhiked through Europe and fell in love with the mosaics I saw there. I wanted to start my own company. I spoke with architects and designers and they found it very challenging to include mosaics in their architectural projects. I decided there had to be a way to make mosaic more accessible and customizable. To do so required both left brain and right brain solutions – the challenge really appealed to me.
ARTAIC sources its tiles from suppliers around the world.
Please tell us about your company’s growth.
Underneath the hood, we’re a tech company. For the first few years, we were primarily developing our technology. We started really growing around 2012. Now we have 25 employees, and we’re just about to introduce our sixth-generation robotic manufacturing systems. Faster and better technology means customers benefit from us having more capability, shorter turnaround times, and improved cost structures.
Boston has been a great home for us. There is a lot of technology being made and used here. There’s also a lot of design and creativity, which is just as important for us. The third important component is that there are plenty of customers in the form of architecture and design firms.
Custom sample boards, produced using a Roland DG VersaUV benchtop UV printer, are critical for showing clients how their mosaic projects will look.
What led to your investment in UV printing?
I learned the hard way that if we can’t show the customer what you can make for them, you don’t get to make the project for them. I needed to find a way to make fast, accurate, full-color, photorealistic custom samples. Clients need to see the project before they buy. It’s imperative that we do that part really well or we don’t get to sell the product. Making better samples directly impacts our success rate.
The other issue is that these samples need to be created in a timely manner. Our projects are typically three months from concept to design, sample, manufacturing, production, and installation. Our sample creation process has to be fast. Clients don’t want to wait three weeks to see a sample.
Examples of the tiles that will be used in the project are displayed on one side of the custom sample board, with a photorealistic image on the other side.
At what point did you decide to add UV print capability? What factors went into that decision?
I’ve known for many years I wanted a custom on-demand printer. Part of the trick was that it needed to print on the thick substrates we like to use for our sample boards and to print on materials other than paper, while maintaining premium quality.
We did a lot of research. Then we went to the Roland DGA office in Boston. Nothing beats the ability to see the machines, talk with the technicians, ask a million questions, and run test prints. I couldn’t find another company that offers more of that kind of support in the Boston area. We were really pleased with the quality of the UV-printed output and decided to buy a VersaUV LEF2-300 benchtop UV printer.
I could have purchased a UV printing device for one-tenth the cost from China, but you get zero support – you’re on your own if anything comes up. We wanted to invest in a high-quality, reliable machine from a manufacturer that offered support for its devices. Even with the quality and support we’ve received from Roland DGA, there’s still a tremendous learning curve to incorporate the hardware and software into our system. I doubt we would have been able to accomplish that with one of the low-cost, unsupported machines.
ARTAIC's clients are very discerning about color and carefully review the sample tiles as well as the photorealistic print of the overall design on the custom sample board.
How important is color to your designs?
Color is incredibly important to us. We are presenting these samples to very discerning customers. We work with architects, designers, and branding companies – they look very closely at the quality – even more than a typical owner of a building where our mosaics are installed would.
I often think about how Steve Jobs at Apple was obsessed with perfecting the packaging for his products. He realized that that initial impression formed when receiving and opening the box with your iPhone inside had a big impact on customer satisfaction. Our customers notice that kind of look – we knew that we needed our renderings and samples to be like that box, so that our clients had confidence that what was inside would be of superior quality. Beyond just looking fantastic, these samples have to survive shipping and handling, and resist fingerprints and scratching, so they keep looking good even after they’ve been handled by multiple people.
Perhaps the strongest praise for our UV-printed samples is that our customers – the architects and designers – never give them back. They are proud to present these samples of their design work to their clients. Our samples are so customized to each customer that they really take ownership and want to keep them as representative of their own creativity. Which is just fine with us!
You create mosaics for family kitchens on up to corporate lobbies. Can you tell us about how that developed?
We started out in the commercial hospitality segment, which was for many reasons a great beachhead market for us with fantastic designers to work with on very creative projects.
Today, our work is also used in other commercial settings such as restaurants, resorts, healthcare facilities, corporate offices, and transportation. We also do swimming pools and other areas where water is present. About 20 percent of our work is residential.
We’ve expanded into so many different segments of architecture. We do a lot of mosaics for corporate lobbies and office buildings: Google, Microsoft, you name it. In retail, we recently completed an installation for Target’s flagship store in New York City’s Times Square of a contemporary art mosaic containing over a million tiles. And in transportation, we just did mosaics for all 26 bathrooms in Logan Airport’s Terminal E.
ARTAIC designs mosaics for residential as well as commercial applications.
Have you noticed any trends in mosaic design over the years? What is popular now in terms of design and materials?
It’s funny because mosaic is considered traditional and expensive, similar to what you see in ancient Rome. We’ve overcome those challenges and have succeeded in making mosaic both contemporary and infinitely customizable, along with being practical and affordable to execute. We do lots of hip and avant garde designs. For instance, we just completed a 1,600-square-foot sculptural mural with Rashid Johnson for the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York.
One of the important aspects of mosaic is that it’s extremely durable - it lasts a very long time. On the residential side, people tend to be conservative, but some clients come to us with a unique look or themed design in mind. For example, we recently did a Star Trek mosaic for a home in Palo Alto, California.
What do you see for the future of your company and your UV printed production?
We will continue to scale our business and address the quality and customizability of each design. We have also begun experimenting with UV printing on other products and surfaces, and we anticipate incorporating this versatile printing technology into other aspects of our business.
