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 New York Times Article , Thursday  August 17,2006

 The Dog Didn't Eat The Homework ; The Homework Ate The House

   After helping with a ceramics project at her son's school five years ago, Louise Farnam was inspired
 to try mosaic work at home She began simply, covering a lamp stand in broken china plates ,
but then her husband , Aziz got involved.
 In 2002 the couple started work on the front facade of their house in Santa Monica , California.
Now the exterior is covered in broken china, tiles, mirror and beads.
Although the Farnams are untutored in art- he is a former wholesaler, 
she a stay- at-home mother to six children- they have turned their passion into a business.


PIECE WORK
The Los Angeles Times, June 10 2007
by Barbara Thornburg


An exuberantly tiled bungalow in Santa Monica shows off a couple's mosaic madness
Louise Farnam’s obsession started quite by accident. Her son Ryan’s fourth-grade class was doing a mosaic project to help raise money for school, and his teacher asked parents to volunteer. After learning the basics of the art form, which involves making pictures or designs by setting small bits of colored stone, glass or tile in mortar, she helped to finish the class vase. Ten days later she bought 20 plates at a secondhand store, a pair of Glass-Snappers (scissors for cutting ceramic and glass) and some Flex all and began tiling an old lamp.

Today the table lamp, covered in miniature roses and faux pearls, sits in a place of honor in the living room chockablock with coffee tables, consoles, vases, bowls, mirror frames, floor lamps and a fireplace all embellished with her tile work. “Anything I could cover with tile I did,” says Louise, who claims she can’t stop herself once she begins a project. Now she controls her mosaic addiction by doing projects for others in her 
Custom Mosaic Art business, which she started in 2005.

Not to be left behind was her husband Aziz, a self-professed home handyman. When their older son asked his father to build a small wall along the sidewalk as a backdrop for a rose garden, he urged him to “add a little mosaic, Pop.” Aziz took up the challenge: He grabbed some tile, cutters and glue--"How hard could it be after all?
"--and began to cover the wall.

Passing neighbors commented on how lovely it looked. He continued by tiling the walkway to the front door. Strangers stopped their cars to take a closer look. Further inspired, he worked on, eventually covering almost the entire house. Six years and 15 million pieces of ceramic plates, tile, glass, beads and faux gems later, he admits,
 “I got hooked too.”


Today the modest 1930s Santa Monica bungalow where the couple raised six children has been transformed into a brightly colored folk-art showcase that slows traffic on busy 26th Street. No wonder:
 Walls covered with small bits of colorful tile are enlivened with a tree of life, sun and moon, birds and boats, a dolphin, an octopus, turtles, seashells and--after Aziz visited Sea World--a breaching Shamu. Even the home’s back wall, facing an alley, is covered. “I re-created the Hollywood sign in tile,” says Aziz, 
“so my neighbor would have something nice to look at.”

The couple, who came to the United States from Iran more than 25 years ago, have never paid a visit to Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers. Created by the Italian immigrant construction worker over three decades (1921-1954), the historic landmark is composed of steel pipes, colored glass, thousands of inlaid seashells and broken tiles. “Everyone tells us we must go see the towers,” says Louise, “but we’re so busy tiling, we don’t have time.”

The complete article can be viewed at:
latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jun-10-tm-mosaicpiecework23-story.html



Santa Monica Daily Press local
MONDAY, JULY 2, 2007
BY MELODY HANATANI,  Daily Press Staff Writer


                               LOCAL LANDMARK: The Farnam home on 26th Street is a site to behold.

                                                                        PATCH WORK MASTERPIECE:

    Aziz and Louise Farnam have transformed their Santa Monica residence into a giant mosaic with contrasting themes throughout MID-CITY. Soon after moving into her new home last year, Pam Barnett was welcomed to the neighborhood by Aziz Farnam with an interesting greeting.

“You are very lucky,” Farnam said to his new neighbor at the time.
“Why,” Barnett asked.
“You get to wake up every morning and see my house,” he replied.

 It’s an amusing story that Barnett likes to tell whenever she has company. Friends and other visitors often inquire about the  marvelous home that sits directly across the street from her residence.

    On the corner of 26th Street and California Avenue is a remarkable home covered in mosaic tiles and beads, a colorful explosion that forces drivers and pedestrians to stop in their tracks.

“I always say I’m across the street from the tile house,” Barnett said on Friday, alluding to how she uses the home as a point of reference when giving directions. 

    MOSAIC LAND it started innocently.
 
Louise Farnam was lending a helping hand during an art project in her son’s class at Franklin Elementary School. The task was to create a mosaic. Farnam was intrigued, it was the first time she had ever tried mosaic art. Curious, she came home and started breaking rose-patterned plates, gluing the pieces onto a lamp. She was happy with the result.
 
   Then one day, Farnam’s son asked if his parents could spice up the facade of the house, add a little mosaic, spruce things up a bit. That was six years ago, before the obsession began. 
Over the years, Louise and her husband, Aziz, began adding more and more tiles to the exterior of the house, creating a mosaic tree and a mosaic killer whale to name but a few.

They covered the walkway with tiles, the stairs, the doors, the walls and even the chimney. Each section of the house is dated, reminding the homeowners of when that certain portion of the project began.
It takes anywhere from a few months to several years to finish a portion of the home. 

   It all begins with an idea, which is then transferred into a sketch. Then begins the time consuming process of finding the right pieces of the puzzle, hitting up flea markets and thrift stores. Sometimes, friends will stop by with glasses broken by their children. Nothing is wasted, Louise Farnam said.
 
The obsession extends inside — the columns of the house covered in broken mirrors, tiles adorning lamp shades, coffee tables and even picture frames.

     Louise and Aziz Farnam become so adept at the art of mosaics; they have started a business, called
“Custom Mosaic Art,” launching a Web site by the same name.
 
The house has been featured in news articles and television shows, including a segment on a HGTV program.

“Everyone said we were crazy with what we were doing here,” Louise said.
“When we were finished, everyone said it was nice and encouraged us to continue.”


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