A London Mosaic Project Heals Minds While Beautifying the Neighborhood
For 15 years, the Hackney Mosaic Project in East London has turned broken tiles into vibrant public art while offering therapeutic refuge to volunteers living with depression, addiction and PTSD. Founder Tessa Hunkin says the work gives people "a holiday from their head."
CommunityGNGV Editorial Team4 min read
In the East London borough of Hackney, broken tiles are being turned into something beautiful — and so, in a sense, are the people who place them. For 15 years, the Hackney Mosaic Project has gathered volunteers around long tables to create elaborate public mosaics: shimmering animals, gardens and patterns that brighten parks, health centers and other shared spaces. As Good News Network reported in May 2026, the project's deeper work is not on the walls but in the lives of the people who make them.
Many of the volunteers live with depression, addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder. The act of cutting and arranging tiny ceramic pieces, hour after hour, turns out to be quietly therapeutic. "It gives people a holiday from their head," explained founder Tessa Hunkin, a 72-year-old architect-turned-artist. "It is a simple task that requires concentration and produces something at the end." For someone struggling with intrusive thoughts or anxiety, that combination — absorbing focus plus a tangible, lasting result — can be profoundly steadying.
Hunkin began the project after walking extensively through Hackney, which has more parks than any other London borough, and imagining how public art might enrich those green spaces. Over the years, the group has produced ambitious installations, including one featuring 50 whimsical dog portraits, and recently completed a project at a local health center that drew the participation of more than 100 patients. Each finished mosaic becomes a permanent gift to the neighborhood, free for anyone to enjoy.
What makes the Hackney Mosaic Project so resonant is the way it fuses two kinds of repair. The visible work mends and beautifies the public realm, replacing blank or neglected surfaces with color and craft. The invisible work mends people, offering connection, purpose and a sense of belonging to those who often feel cut off from both. In a city that can be lonely and overwhelming, a table full of tiles becomes a place where strangers become collaborators — and where healing and beauty are quite literally built piece by piece.
