Tessa Hunkin trained and worked as an architect before joining Emma Biggs at Mosaic Workshop in 1989. Together they built up a thriving mosaic studio, undertaking public and private commissions for a wide range of clients including the Sultan of Oman, Westminster Cathedral and Aston Villa Football Club. She has collaborated on a number of books about mosaic and exhibited at both solo and mixed shows. She is interested in figurative and representational work, and was long fascinated by the history and tradition of mosaic, drawing inspiration from the Golden Age of the Late Classical and Early Christian era. In 2011 she set up the Hackney Mosaic Project to make large scale public mosaics with vulnerable adults, including people in recovery from mental health and addiction problems. Together they have worked on commissions for many different clients including Hackney Council, London Zoo and Sainsbury’s. Their work was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2024 and a new book, published in 2025 by Spitalfields Life, celebrates their work over the past 14 years, ‘Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project’